Paper Mario: Story of Creation
by CocoaBakeccha
Summary: Mario and Co. sail off into an unknown land that was discovered by E. Gadd in order to do some research about its rumors as well as take a well earned vacation. However, once again Princess Peach gets abducted by an evil force and Mario must spring into action to rescue her. In order to reach the Princess, Mario will need to unravel the island's secrets with the help of its leader.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A Glimpse of A New Glow**

 _Throughout life, stories of many have been told as time passes by_

 _But today_ _ **our**_ _story shall be told_

 _Long before our land was created there was only a book, it was shared by two beings_

 _The two created our land to be perfect; whatever they wrote in the book…it became reality_

 _A vast ocean was placed around us to protect us, filled with delicious fish so we may never starve_

 _The land became populated with beautiful forests, a few huge mountains and canyons here and there…_

 _Even our first people were brought into this world by the saying of the two beings_

 _La vita era meravigliosa…_

 _Times have changed though; we have been abandoned to remain in our own bubble…we have to get out of here…_

 _One of our Creators had destroyed the book…and he left us trapped in our own land_

 _But…the other Creator, she promised to take care of us…and she did, even if it meant she were to be trapped with us_

 _There's no more need for the book, life is perfect now_

 _We don't need to leave this land…there's nothing else better out there anyways…_

It was a considerably warm summer day today in the Mushroom Kingdom, a perfect day just to do nothing but loaf around inside; it has been a while since Bowser had attempted to kidnap Princess Peach which was pretty great. However, this did raise a feeling of suspicion upon his prolonged absence…no one really cared though, the less King Of Guys Who Talk To Posters appearances the better. A refreshing breeze blew by the humble home of the famous Mario Bros; Mario was lounging about outside sitting on a lawn chair with his legs up, he was enjoying the weather while munching on some kooky cookies and drinking some refreshing Koopa Tea. Luigi was inside the house listening to the radio while folding the laundry.

" _Howdy folks~! It's the Mushroom Kingdom Radio station bringing the latest scoop on what's happening in the now."_ Luigi had always been a fan of the news so he turned up the radio a bit. _"Today we are interview Professor E. Gadd and his new lab assistant Goombert; the two have made a fascinating discovery about an undiscovered land that had appeared out of nowhere! Alrighty Prof, the mic is all yours now."_

"Greetings, it is I, Professor Elvin Gadd!" The old man wheezed over the microphone. "S-sorry about that, anyways, my assistant and I have been investigating the ocean for paranormal happenings…but, instead of finding ghosts, we have found a brand new land that isn't on any maps! Goombert lad, tell the folks about this astounding find, my boy."

A young boy's flustered voice was heard over the radio, "A-ah, I'm so nervous…well, h-hey everyone, as you heard from the Professor, we scored an interesting find from our investigations. There is apparently some unknown turf out there that definitely needs exploring, the Professor and I had tried to read up on a bunch of articles on the place, but we only found rumors about what exists in the very island itself. I can say right now that it probably holds plenty of forests, some mountains, and maybe even a different species of people! Sorry if that sounded a tad broad, we don't even know that much about this fantasy place…" He went silent for a few moments, whispering could be heard in the background. "B-but that's where you, the Mushroom Kingdom Radio Station's loyal listeners come in! The Professor and I will actually attempt on going to the island since we managed to get its coordinates; any volunteers are welcome to tag along with us, because you know…the more the merrier! And any help can make the researching of the place a whole lot easier, so feel free to pack your bags and meet us at Professor E. Gadd's lab for a meeting on what we'll be doing. As a heads up, thanks to those who want to participate in this investigation in advance!" The microphone could be heard, it was quickly slid across a table.

" _Well there ya have it folks! A new bizarre place has been uncovered; our brave Professor (with his wimpy Tanoomba assistant…) shall set off soon to brave the possible dangers of this land to keep us informed about more things in this big world. Remember, if you wish to go with them, meet them at the Professor's Lab anytime today or tomorrow before departure time~! Now…let's move on to the weather…"_ Luigi stopped listening because the station usually NEVER gets the weather right.

"Wowie, I wonder if Mario will be pulled into that adventure…" Luigi chuckled a bit. "My big bro always goes on journeys, usually at the expense of the Princess being kidnapped or her just inviting him to tag along, I bet Peach did hear that announcement and she'll be writing to Mario pretty-a soon." He sighed. "Man, I wish Mario would bring me along too…I could be a pretty useful arsenal to his team…I remember those carefree days where we'd play sports and throw parties…Mario and I would always be a team, but now, he leaves me behind like I'm just a 'guard dog' to our home…"

Luigi was right about it though, the next day the Princess had sent an invitation towards the Mario Bros. abode. Parakarry swooped down onto the front lawn…"MAIL CALL!"…he shoved a bunch of letters into the mailbox. As the formula of the Paper Mario introductions…Luigi was the one who would always obtain the mail, this time was no different. He walked inside sliding his fingers through the mail to see the pile's contents.

"Let'sa see…bills, bills, bills, ooh one free charm spell coupon from Merlee of Dry Dry Outpost…! Bills, some threat letter from Jr. Troopa, heh, Mario told me about this tyke, what a funny kid…ah, I knew it! Hey-a Big Bro, you got a letter from the Princess!" Luigi saw Mario lazily walk out into the kitchen. "Wow bro, you look winded. Anyways, this note is from Peach, here let me-a read it to you, ahem…"

 _To my Dearest Mario,_

 _I would like to invite you to come with me on an adventure to a brand new land that was mentioned by Professor Elvin yesterday on the radio. Just hearing about it made my curiosity rise, I simply must know what mysteries could be unlocked in this new place, who knows, we might even get a new alliance if there is a neighboring kingdom there! Who knows what kind of people, places and things are there…the culture must be so…vastly different from ours! Well, I should probably stop writing now; just writing about it won't quench the inquisitiveness I abide for it. Please meet me and the others at Professor Elvin's lab; I'll be eagerly waiting for your arrival!_

 _Princess Peach_

 _P.S. Luigi can come too!"_

Luigi finished reading the letter in Peach's voice which only left Mario with a scrunched up freaked out look in his face.

"Bro, I know you're-a good at impersonating the-a Princess' voice and-a all, but it'sa still freaky and I don't think I can-a ever get used to that..." Mario frowned.

"Heh heh, sorry bro, got carried away there, anyways, wowie! Another adventure, but this time your bro Luigi can-a come too, bro power for the win!"

Mario chuckled. "Yeah, bro power for the win. We should-a probably stock up on whatever is necessary before we go and lock up the house too." Mario made his way back to his room to pack while Luigi made sure all the things in the house were in place before they left. They then went to Toad Town square for some item stocking, they purchased items such as fire flowers, POW blocks, sleepy sheeps, and the most important item; the health replenishing Mushroom. After the heavy loading, Mario and Luigi made their way to E. Gadd's lab where Princess Peach, Toadsworth, Kolorado, and several Toads were waiting for them.

"Oh, Mario! Luigi! It's nice to see both of you!" Princess Peach said as she smiled at the Mario bros. "Goombert is just about to explain our mission for this island escapade; he told us the Professor is busy getting our ride ready at the Toad Town docks so he'll be doing all the guide lining." Everyone's attention was now focused on the light brown haired Tanoomba wearing a green hoodie and navy blue shoes who was standing in front of the laboratory shack. He wasn't used to people looking at him like that which kept him paralyzed in uneasiness for a few moments, but he shook it off by taking a deep breath and proceeded to his spiel.

"G-greetings everyone, I'm Goombert-but you probably all already knew that…" He pulled out a small notecard from his pocket and proceeded to read it. "F-first of all, thank you all for volunteering your time into this cause. As you all obviously know, the land we are about to embark onto has plenty of unknown spectacles, only some skeptical rumors are the icing to this cake; but that's about to change; this is where all of us come in. This trip can be considered some sort of vacation due to all the site seeing we are going to participate in, however, our main target is to gather as much information about the place as possible. I can assure you all now, the trip can be dangerous and you have the right to leave, but at the same time, this might be an amazing cultural escapade that can be enjoyed by many. Learning can be fun; learning from this place will not be dissimilar." Goombert then took a gander at the volunteers to see if anyone left, none did. He then nodded and continued. "Okay, the meeting should almost be wrapped up. I should probably give the detail of when we should meet at the docks…" He took a glance at the card squinting his eyes. "We'll meet at dawn…ah yes, I almost f-forgot, since the trip will be by boat, the voyage may take around three days…anyways, thank you all for your time, this meeting is finished." The boy let out a sigh of relief. Everyone began to banter about what they were going to do once they got to the island. The Toad Brigade spoke about searching for secret treasures along with the famous explorer Kolorado; while Toadsworth, being his worrywart self, nagged the Princess on about safety precautions. Mario and Luigi themselves weren't sure what they were going to do on the island, but they both agreed that they probably should watch the Princess because every time they went on vacation it was usually cut short by an unwanted kidnapping.

 _The time finally came for our group of exploration-hungry heroes to depart for the unknown, everyone made their way off the dock and into the ship that Professor E. Gadd had rented earlier on. After the head count and the luggage being stuffed away below deck, the boat chugged off into the sunset heading into the direction of excitement and uncertainty._


	2. Chapter 1 Pt 2

**Chapter 1: A Glimpse of A New Glow-Welcome To Maremelodia**

 _Three days dragged on…but our heroes entertained themselves during this voyage to pass the time. Finally…it was the dawn of the third day and the new land could be viewed on the horizon. The Professor called everyone up once the land met his eyes and they all rushed up gasping in awe. The island reflected itself beautifully across the water; it greeted Mario and Co. with a kingdom that sat at the very entrance of the land that was kissed by the warm sun, behind it stood a sunset colored forest with trees that stood tall…even a humongous snow peak mountain could be seen at the back. What more could this island hold?_

"Oh my…" Princess Peach gasped in amazement, "It looks like quite the place doesn't it, Mario?" Mario just nodded; he had been to many different places such as a frigid cold place full of mystery loving penguins, a Toy Box infested by Shy Guys, a Pirate Cove haunted by Ghost Pirates, a flying warrior's coliseum, and he even traveled through various dimensions so his fascination bar wasn't set that high. Luigi took a sight of the place and was easily impressed by its splendor.

"Wowie! That-a looks pretty cool!" Luigi sweated nervously, "Heh, heh, for a second there I thought this was going to actually be a dangerous adventure, that island looks peaceful so this is going to be more of a vacation dashed with tourism!" He wiped his nose smugly, smiling. Mario shook his head, he knew out of everyone that a vacation will always be cut short one way or another; he just didn't want to mention it to ruin the cheerful mood that was emanating throughout the group. He figured he might as well enjoy it while it lasted, so he decided to chat with everyone else about what to do once they landed.

"Uh Professor?" Goombert looked over at the island closely then at E. Gadd, "Now that I think of it, how are we gonna land there? We kinda came here unexpectedly so we might startle the locals with our sudden appearance. We'd look rather bizarre to them or am I wrong?" The Professor just stared at the island as if he were in some sort of trance, so Goombert snapped at his eyes with his non-existent fingers. "Yo Prof!" The Professor leaped in shock but managed to regain his composure. "E-eh, sorry Professor, I didn't mean to y-yell that was rude of me…u-um…so, what do you think Professor? How will we pull up to shore?"

"Even if we are uninvited guests, we do get unwanted companies in the Mushroom Kingdom all the time, I am quite sure these folks may have had tourists before, so we'll just let ourselves in~!" Goombert gave the Professor an incredulous look.

"Oh okay if you say so." Just a few minutes later the boat made its way near the dock of the Town that the island housed. Some of the local residents dressed in fancy wears gave cynical looks at this ship; they have never ever seen a boat model such as this before and the fear of the unknown took a toll right here. One of the locals made their way towards the boat as it unloaded its crew. Princess Peach walked out first and she was greeted by the very resident who gave her an astonished gaze. When she looked at him, she realized the people who inhabited this island were no different from the peoples who hail from her land; the local was just an average Toad, except he was a bit dark skinned and he wore fancy clothing.

"…" He just stared at the Princess, not saying anything at all.

"Hello there~" The Princess bowed. "Many apologies for our abrupt arrival here unsolicited; we have just heard of this place…and we are most curious of the happenings that occur in this marvelous looking settlement as well as the rest of this vast island."

The Toad seemed pretty pleased with the way the Princess was able to communicate with him. "Warm greetings then, are these your kin?" He looked back at the rest of the folks that disembarked off the boat after Peach. The Princess nodded.

"This is a load of barnacles…" Mario whispered to Luigi.

"I know-a right? Snobby dolled up elitists everywhere…how boring." Luigi whispered back staring at the crowd ahead of them. The Princess continued to engage her conversation with the Toad.

"Ah so you hail from a place known as the Mushroom Kingdom? As well as being its Ruler? Quite fascinating indeed…for we have never heard of such a place. Perhaps you should meet our leader…yes…that may be a savory idea." He walked off and turned to the Princess. "Come now, we mustn't dilly-dally." The Princess quickly followed behind with Toadsworth directly next to her.

"Mario! Luigi! Let's go boys; the Princess needs attending to!" Toadsworth called the bros in a stern manner. The brothers immediately jumped to their side and followed as well.

"Hey Mario, what about the others?" Luigi tugged on Mario's sleeve while pointing at the other passengers who were accompanying them.

"It'sa all good bro, the Prof. wanted us to split-a up anyways, I am-a pretty sure they'll have-a their own business to attend too. Besides, we'll all meet up in this same spot anyways at the end of the trip." Mario had a reassuring tone which made Luigi more confident about leaving. As they made their way down the bustling crowded town, Mario had noticed plenty of things that he already had taken a fancy to such as the vast selection of food, a store that had hammers that looked as if they made of the highest quality, even a store that sold some spiffy looking overalls. All this "window-shopping" made Mario sigh with dreamy content. Luigi was just happy to see his brother happy, although he did get a glimpse of some fancy duds that he could totally impress Princess Daisy with. He even spotted a lovely little bookstore; Luigi became quite a fan of literature ever since his own books "The Super Luigi Series" had been published so he wondered if he could snag a few books on how to be a cool adventurer to read to entertain him during his spare time. The town gave off a melodious tune…it seemed most of the folks enjoyed music for there were plenty of musical theaters around too. The group was finally greeted by a huge castle-like building; it was quite a sight to behold as its sunset orange architecture glistened against the sun's rays.

"Oh my, what a lovely castle." Princess Peach seemed pretty mesmerized with the color scheme.

"Yes, quite." The Toad opened the large door that secured the castle, he then held it open for his invitees, "Come in, Come in." The group made their way into the castle being greeted by a huge hall that gave a vibe of elegancy; with its checkered floor and goldenrod walls with plants placed against them. The hall only led to the next room which was actually a courtyard with various trimmed hedges, a mini river that flowed through it, the grass was pretty green and there were chic street lamps scattered orderly about. The sound of water flowing gave the area a feeling of serenity.

"Woo…" Luigi whistled, "Nice place we got here, I believe this 'room' is my-a favorite." Mario nodded in agreement, he felt like he could loaf off here just like he would at home. The Princess took notes in her head on this place; she totally wanted to redecorate a few rooms of her castle anyways. The assembly finally made their way to the throne room which was pretty much another big room itself; it bared the same look as the first hallway except a throne could be seen at the end of the hall and there were various doors leading to other rooms of the palace. No one but them was in the room though.

"Pardon me, but where is your leader exactly? They don't seem to be present in this room." Princess Peach looked around the room only seeing various Toad butlers, maids, and knights standing around; but no one that looked like a sovereign could be seen.

"Ah, do you think she spends her time in this room all day? Our leader spends time in her office; she is often busy working on ways to advance this island's way of living." The Toad smiled, leading the group towards the door next to the throne. "This is her workplace…give me a moment please." He knocked on the door, "My lady, may I come in? You have some visitors who wish to partake in a conversation with you!"

"Oh, hello Warren! Come in!" A soft-spoken voice could be heard behind the door. The Toad opened the door and brought his company inside. The room gave the appearance of a study, there were bookshelves on the side walls, a desk with scattered papers all over it was at the center with a globe that only had one island on it, and even if the curtains were open, the room was still pretty dim.

"My Lady, thank you kindly. This is Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom and those men behind her are her followers." The Toad introduced the group to the Lady before them. One gander showed a dark skinned young girl with tied up white hair, she wore a black dress with small gold symbols on the brim of it, and some pink flowers were pinned on the left chest area which was different from what any of the townsfolk would wear.

"So these are the visitors?" The Lady stood up and bowed to them. "Very nice to meet you, sorry about the mess…oh! I forgot to introduce myself how rude of me-I'm Lady Adira." As graceful as she looked, that introduction revealed her to be a bit scatter-brained…who knows if she's clumsy too.

"Greetings, Lady Adira, it's nice to meet you." Princess Peach held out her hand for a handshake; Adira shook her hand…her handshake felt a little cold. "I apologize that my friends and I came here unexpectedly…is it alright that I ask where we are?"

"Oh, it's alright! This is Maremelodia, also known as melody of the sea, our land has a large appreciation towards music." Adira smiled, "Um…but how did you manage to find this place? We never ever get visitors…leaders before me had told me that this place could never be found because we were hidden from the world."

"One of my colleagues actually found this place; he's a very intelligent Professor! He told us that he saw this place on radar when investigating the seas." Princess Peach replied. "There are actually more of us at the docks of this place."

"A-ah, I see. Well, I give you all a warm welcome." The Lady seemed a little flustered; she wasn't so sure about how to treat tourists before. "I guess you all can stay here at the castle, we actually have a lot of room here, haha. Feel free to bring your friends along with you."

"Thank you very much, we'd appreciate that a lot" The Princess smiled, "My friends and I will go get them." The group was about to leave.

"My right-hand Warren shall assist you with that; you probably are all winded from your trip right?" The Lady knew that it probably took a while for the visitors to even get to the island. Warren joined the group and escorted them out to the docks.

"Does your Leader always act like that, sir?" Toadsworth asked the Toad Butler. Warren gave him a cynical look.

"Not really. Our Lady is actually quite knowledgeable; she is a kind and benevolent person. Lady Adira is extremely loyal towards her people and does not tolerate any harm that is inflicted towards us. She was just flustered because she is not used to unexpected guests, as she said, we do not ever get visitors to Maremelodia."

"Ah, I see, many apologies then." Toadsworth was very self-conscious but he maintained his composure. The group finally made their way to the dock and fortunately, everyone else was still there. Princess Peach went to go talk to Professor E. Gadd.

"Professor, we managed to find a place to stay. The leader of this island invited us to stay at her castle during our investigation."

"Wonderful!" The Professor replied with optimism, "This is splendid, it will be much better than just camping around in unknown territory. Goombert can you get my luggage? It's just that small briefcase there."

"Alright sir…" The Tanoomba fetched the bag as well as his own; he seemed pretty used to carrying the Professor's gear around. "So we're heading to a palace, Professor? Seems cool."

"Yes, my boy, it will be a good place to rendezvous at the end of the day; I can conduct my research in peace without disruption!" E. Gadd smiled. All the travelers from the boat then followed Warren back to the kingdom where they were welcomed with the highest hospitality. They spent the rest of the day relaxing from their long voyage through the sea and had dinner. After that it was finally nightfall and everyone headed to their rooms for a well-deserved rest; except for Mario and Princess Peach who were having a nice chat at the balcony.

"It's been a while since we've talked alone like this…right Mario?" Peach gazed at the starry night sky. Mario looked at her smiling with awe.

"Yeah…it has been. Did you enjoy your day here Princess?" Mario really wanted to start up a conversation; he missed talking to his Princess for real instead of him only receiving E-mails or Star Kids speaking through her because of Bowser's or some other evil guy's shenanigans.

"Why yes, thank you Mario…you know…" The Princess blushed a bit looking the opposite way of the Plumber.

"What is it, Princess?" Mario looked at the Princess with glistening eyes; she looked his face feeling perturbed.

"Um…maybe tomorrow we could take a mini-vacation through town? Just the two of us?" Peach smiled at Mario waiting for a response that she wanted.

"Sure, Princess, I'd love to." The Plumber smiled back, he definitely needed some time off, especially with the Princess by his side.

"Thank you Mario" Peach then looked back up at the sky, Mario did as well. After a few moments of quietness, the two yawned. "Ah…it is getting late…we should pack in for the night. Good night Mario." The Princess walked back inside into the castle.

"Good night Princess…" Mario continued to look up at the star filled sky, feeling an unknown presence nearby…


	3. Chapter 1 Pt 3

**Chapter 1: A Glimpse of A New Glow- The Forest of Illusion**

 _It was the middle of the night; everyone had already fallen asleep…well, except for Luigi who had awoken for the need of water. He got up and approached the door silently because Mario was fast asleep on the bed opposite of his. The young bro opened the door slowly, slipping quickly into the hall. He made his way towards the dining area when he suddenly bumped into someone. The figure was none other than Princess Peach._

"Oh! Sorry Princess, didn't see you there, it's pretty dark out here." Luigi said all embarrassed. The Princess did not respond, she just stood there staring at the wall. "Princess?" Peach began to walk off into the next room as if she was trying to follow someone. "Princess! Where are you-a going? Uh-oh Mario is not going to like this…" Luigi pondered to himself whether to follow Peach or to tell Mario first. The obvious choice was to follow the Princess if he even went back to Mario Peach might as well be long gone. The Green Plumber followed the Princess a tad far behind, he continuously tried to call her name but she could not hear him. The two eventually were outside the palace, Luigi began to become even more worried, the Princess is about to wander into unknown territory. He dashed after her but she somehow always made it out of the man's reach, it's probably because the town was so complex with its staircases, alleyways and various passageways. "Princess! Stop! Where are you going?!" They finally made it to the outskirts of the town, there was a huge stretch of forest a few feet away front of the exit. Princess Peach was standing at the entrance of it facing away from Luigi. "Peach, why did you wander off like that!? Mario and everyone else would be worried about you! Please, let's just h-head back to the castle!" Luigi approached the Princess. She gave him an evil eye then made her way into the forest; Luigi flinched in surprise, the Princess would never give such foul behavior. "I need to…go after her…!" He mustered up all his courage and followed Peach in the forest. Once he entered he noticed how vastly complex the forest was compared to what it looked like far away, it wasn't as pretty and it gave off a hostile aura. "Aish…Peach, why did you choose to wander to some forest at night? Couldn't this chase just go on during the day when everyone is actually awake and we'd probably not get lost in this darkness…?" He looked around at his surroundings; plenty of things looked the same, "Oh my…didn't I just pass that mushroom a few minutes ago?" Luigi heard the Princess's footsteps, he then thought if he followed them as they got louder he'd be able to reunite with Peach and they could get out of there. A few minutes of stumbling around in the darkness had passed by but he finally caught up with Peach. "Ah! I finally found you Peach! Let'sa get out of here!" He was about to walk near her.

"Go away…." A deep unsettling distorted voice was heard. Luigi jumped a bit off the ground in shock, he looked around to see if anyone else was around. Nobody was there. "Go back…you are not the one…."

"H-hey! Who are you…? And…w-why did you lead the P-Princess here?" Luigi was trembling looking at Peach. "A-answer me!"

"Who are you to ask someone such as I a question like that? I have business to attend to, and this meeting was meant for someone in red, not green." The voice grew closer. "You screwed up my plan…for that you must be punished."

"W-what?" Luigi took a battle stance, he was aware that lines like those always led to a fight so he was ready to defend the Princess at all costs. "S-show yourself coward!"

"Coward, huh? Quite a hypocritical statement you've dared to allow out of that thing you call your mouth," A dark shadowy figure appeared, he couldn't be identified… "I shall not waste my energy on someone who wasn't involved with this plan…"The man's voice became fainter; "…G…hea….him…and…brin…hi…b…."

"H-huh?! (I c-can't hear this guy! W-what's going on?!)" Luigi felt something pound onto his head causing him to faint.

…

"Luigi…"It was Mario's voice. "Hey Luigi! Wake up-a you sleepy-a head!" Luigi groaned feeling a sharp pain in his head.

"Ugh…is it morning…?" Luigi got up from his bed, looking around, "HUH?! I-I'm back here?!" He looked around confused.

 _Did what happen last night actually happen? Perhaps it was all just a dream…Luigi was unsure about it, he was conflicted on whether to tell the others on the events that took place; especially Mario._

"Hm? Did you go somewhere Luigi? When I woke up you were just sleeping there soundly, it'sa quite late in the day right now. You were knocked out like a brick so I did not want to-a bother you." Mario shrugged. "I was-a supposed to go somewhere with Peach today, but she seems to have gone ahead without me…" He sighed.

"M-Mario…" Luigi stuttered, "Something-a happened to the Princess…" Mario gasped staring at Luigi in shock; part of him did not want to believe the cursed words that came out of Luigi's mouth.

"N-no…" Mario shook his head in disbelief, great, another frame of quality time with Peach had been cut short by yet ANOTHER kidnapping. "W-was it Bowser?!"

"No Mario…it wasn't…" Luigi then began to explain the whole ordeal he had to face the night before, he told Mario of how Princess Peach had wandered off into the 'Lost Woods', explained how he was unable to snap her out of whatever trance she was in, and how a mysterious man had brought him down, not knowing the reason of why he was spared. "I'm sorry big Bro…I failed you…"

"Luigi, it is-a alright, I knew this trip was going to fall apart anyways…we have to aware the others about this so we can set up a search party." Mario thought for a moment, "Maybe Lady Adira could shed some light onto our situation." The two bros then left their room and called everyone for a meeting at the dining room.

"W-WHAT? THE PRINCESS WAS KIDNAPPED?!" Toadsworth was hyperventilating, "I-I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN MY EYES OFF OF HER-"He took a pause and was comforted by the Toad Brigade.

"I'm guessing we're going to need a search party right?" Captain Toad was ready for this adventure, "We'll be able to handle this situation, just give us the word Chief."

"Alrighty, so what we-a know so far is that Peach went missing in the woods…" Mario looked at Adira who looked extremely exhausted from doing paperwork. "Lady, do you know anything of a mysterious man that could be haunting this island?"

"…" Adira pondered for a moment, "Ah! I do remember my parents telling me about someone like that, I don't know his name but he was rumored to want this island's lost treasure. Mario if you could come with me to my office, I think I have something that could help you with your search." She exited the room with Mario following her. They made their way into Adira's office, Mario paused at the door to see what Adira was going to get. The Lady went through her drawers and pulled up a dusty tattered book. She blew off the dusty and coughed, "S-sorry-Anyways, this book was made by my Ancestors, I was told that it was used to create Maremelodia. But take a look inside…" She handed Mario the book, he flipped through various pages.

"Oh! Some of the pages are missing!" Mario found some frayed off pages at the center of the book, there were possibly some more throughout it.

"Yes, you are right, and you probably knew who did that too." The Lady looked at the book with a gloomy look on her face, "My Papa told me that the book housed powerful magic; its spells were used to create this land, however, one of the Creators grew power hungry and wanted to use this book's magic to redo this world's creations…so, the book was destroyed and its pages flew across this island possibly somewhere being guarded by something powerful. My Mama told me because of that, this land's existence became unknown for thousands of years, but…there was a loophole that we'd once again become known to this world, perhaps your arrival here was no coincidence, you and your friends may be able to restore this book's power!"

"Maybe," said Mario, "But what does this have to do with rescuing Princess-a Peach?"

"Here's where rescuing your _Special One_ comes in, she is probably being used as bait to lure you in, but instead your Younger Brother went after Peach instead, frustrated the perpetrator probably scrambled his plans around…I heard this man is very cunning and powerful, so going into this situation blindly can be dangerous alone. If you fill in the contents of this book with its lost pages, it could lead you to the kidnapper and it could help you beat him down! But this is my only guess, I'm sorry I am not as knowledgeable in this field of information."

"No, no, it's fine Lady," Mario smiled reassuringly, "Thank you for your help, I guess I'll-a kill two birds with one stone once again helping you-a guys out, it'sa time to fill up this book! Though…where do I-a start?"

"I think you should head to the Forest of Illusion, you know, where your brother Luigi got lost," Lady Adira paused, "It's quite a mess in there but I'm sure you'll find your way to the end." Mario nodded and headed back to the others. "…Thank you…Mario."

Back at the dining room everyone was discussing of what they should do to rescue the Princess. Mario rushed in with the book and explained the whole spiel that Adira had given him.

"So, you're going to the forest then?" Buckenberry adjusted his glasses, "Well, that does seem like the most rational place to go first, perhaps you might find some clues where Luigi was knocked out or…maybe the Princess could still be there!"

"That is-a our best bet," Mario scratched the back of his head, "Luigi, bro, I'mma going to need your help with this, if you are up for it."

"Of course bro! I am always ready to spring into action!" Luigi did a heroic pose.

"We'll go around town to gather more information about the happenings on the island; the townsfolk might know some stuff on the Princess's abduction." Captain Toad looked at Mario for the 'let'sa go'.

"Alrighty, you-a do that," Mario replied, "Feel-a free to E-mail me on my Mailbox SP whenever you get something important."

"We gotcha, Mario no need to worry!" Alagold smiled. Captain Toad and his gang then shoved off into the town. Mario and the remaining crew watched.

"Mario, old bean, I shall be off to hunt for items around the island if I find anything on the book's pages, I shall aware you posthaste!" Kolorado then marched off out of the castle, Mario knew too well that the Koopa was just going to search for treasure, but he didn't care and shrugged that off.

"Master Mario, do be careful…I shall stay behind and gather information, it is the only use I am for this mission," Toadsworth coughed, "Do return with the Princess safely…"

"I-a will Toadsworth, I promise," Mario was determined, "Well Luigi, let'sa-"

"Hold your Yoshis, Mario!" It was Professor E. Gadd, "You should bring my lab assistant Goombert with you, he can be of good use for your journey, just treat him nicely alright my boy?" Mario looked at the Tanoomba for a few moments remembering how wimpy he was…but that aside, they need more company so why not? He nodded.

"Okay, Prof, Goombert can come with us." Mario replied with doubt. "Alright guys, let'sa go!" The trio made their way to the outskirts of town to the forest where Luigi had lost the battle.

"This is it, Mario, I can-a tell you now that this forest plays jokes on your head, it'sa pretty easy to get lost-a here…" Luigi shivered at the thought remembering how he got lost the night before.

"It'sa going to be alright Luigi, with the three of us working together, I know we can-a pull through," Mario replied with assurance.

"Yeah, if we run into any trouble with some enemies, my field work can surely assist us in taking them down, I have knowledge on monsters and I have a decent Headbonk…" Goombert stared at the woods, "Well let's do this thing."

The trio made their way into the woods which gave a completely different vibe during the day than at night. Luigi made sure to keep close to his company because getting separated could mean a Game Over. Eventually, the trio saw a sign.

"Forest of Illusion," Mario read, " 'Keep track of where you're going, or you'll get lost forever'…oh what-a lovely thing to say! 'Watch out for Goombas!' Ah, so weak enemies are being tossed at us right now."

"Hey that hurts man," Goombert took offense to that. Mario shrugged forgetting the Tanoomba was also part Goomba. "Anyways, we all know the drill, regular Goombas can get stomped on as well as being smacked by a hammer, flying ones can't be smacked by a hammer but they can be stomped making them plummet to the ground, and spiked Goombas can only be pounded by a hammer…so look alive bros." The three continued their way on, eventually they did run into trouble some Goombas were wandering around the woods too. Following on Goombert's advice they fought on and on and on, but the spark of fighting had been going out due to it being consecutive.

"Mama mia…I'm tired…"Luigi began to pant, "Are we-a there yet…?" He collapsed onto the ground.

"I don't-a know bro…" Mario sighed, "How did you even find your way to the end of the woods anyways?"

"Well…I-a followed Princess Peach's footsteps, I couldn't see where I was going so it was a blind follow, her shoes made some clicking sounds so…"

"Ah…I see…" Mario frowned, "Well-a this is-a just peachy…" The group just sat down trying to think and catch their breath.

"Wait…do you hear that…?" Goombert whispered, the bros shook their heads, "It's…it's coming from that way, it's some odd stomping sounds, we probably couldn't hear it earlier because of the ruckus we made while fighting…let's follow it…" Goombert got up acting different than he was days before, "Well?" He started walking forward. Mario looked at Luigi, the young Plumber shrugged and they made an agreement to follow. The trio followed the sounds which lead to them finally making it to where the Princess had disappeared. There was an enormous menacing spiked helmet wearing Goomba with foam coming out of his mouth stomping around the area.

"T-this is the place…Mario…!" Luigi whispered, "Are we-a really going to fight that thing…?" Mario nodded which made Luigi sigh in remorse towards his own question. "Okay…" Mario and Goombert already leapt out of the bushes they were hiding in towards the Goomba. "MAMA MIA-w-wait for me-!" Luigi dashed to their side.

"We can't step on him, so…Mario! Luigi! You're going to have to whack him around with your hammers! Just watch out because he'll charge at you…!" Goombert was cut short, the boss wailed and charged at them, "W-watch out-!" Mario countered the boss with his hammer.

"LET'SA ROCK BRO!" Mario did a battle cry and used his hammer against the Goomba, it didn't do much damage but he pounded away, Luigi did the same. Goombert took a look around his surroundings to see how he could help, he then noticed there was a rocky wall behind the boss and an idea had hatched over his head.

"Mario, I think I found a way to even out the playing field!" Goombert called for Mario while Luigi continued to distract the Goomba. The Tanoomba whispered about the rock wall and how they should make it collapse over the boss' head. "Look alive dude, your timing will count here…" Mario nodded then made his way towards the wall, he then chucked Goombert at the boss. Goombert used his tail and smacked the boss in the face causing the Goomba to rage.

"Hey-a big head! Over here!" Mario taunted the Goomba causing it to charge at Mario, at the last second the hero leapt up and caused the boss to crash into the wall. A bunch of rocks collapsed and rained down crushing up the helmet the Goomba had been wearing. The metal shriveled up and disintegrated into dust causing the whole area to become fogged up…as it cleared up, the boss was revealed to be a regular kid Goomba.

"Owie…that hurt….where am I?" The Goomba looked at the bros in confusion, "Who are you guys?" He sniffled in pain…

"…"Mario's eyes widened, this kid was innocent… "You were under some kind of spell, child, but we saved you."

"R-really?" The Goomba smiled at Mario, "Oh, I don't know how to thank you…!" He noticed a piece of paper on the ground below him, "This…this looks important, but I don't need it…it caused me trouble when I first found it…! I want you to have it; I don't want it near me ever again." The boy handed Mario the paper. As Mario looked at it, he saw a vision of a place he hadn't seen before; could this be where the one of the pages were located? The plumber then looked at his friends, who were winded from battle.

"Well-a, I guess we should head back then," Mario sighed, "We should aware Adira about our new find." Both partners agreed and as they were about to leave…

"Goombert…? Is that you…?"

 _The Tanoomba looked back at the kid and remained silent; he then proceeded to follow the bros back to Maremelodia town._


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- Onward Mario and Friends**

 _Mario and crew headed back to Maremelodia, trying to shake off the battle pain. They finally found their way into the castle were they were greeted by Warren._

"Ah, I see you have returned," Warren welcomed them, "Were you able to find what you were looking for by chance?"

"Well, sort of, we only managed to snag a page for the book…" Mario shrugged, "Unfortunately, we weren't able to find the Princess."

"I see, I'm sorry for that," Warren replied, "Well, Lady Adira is expecting you, come now." He walked off to the office. It seems that in every adventure, Mario would always meet up at a certain place to discuss the next plan, before it was at Merlon's hut…the other being at Professor Frankly's library, now it's at Adira's office. The trio followed the butler into the office where Adira was napping on her desk. "M'Lady, the heroes have returned," He poked Adira's arm.

"Looks like someone is trying to…SELL ME SOMETHING-"She leapt up from her dream, looking at everyone in the room who were snickering from that display, "…Sorry I was having a weird dream, anyways, did you have any luck boys?" Mario nodded and showed her the book which had a new page in it. "I see you managed to find a new page, ooh, it has a spell in it, this one is to…"Her eyes grazed the words of the page, "Ah! This one is to inflict damage with the power of force, it temporarily powers up your attacks in battle, but only if you decide to use it….anyways, any signs of the Princess?"

"No…"Mario looked down, "B-but we did manage to find some clues on our next location, you see, once I got a hold of that page, I had a vision of the next place that we need to go! I saw some train tracks which led to a place that looks like the wild wild west!"

"Oh really? The place you described sounds like Bomb-Omb Junction, it's located in the desert on the opposite side of this island, you'd need to ride a train to get there…as well as trudge through the desert itself. The place is considerably hot and full of bandits…but are you boys up to the challenge?"

"Of-a course!" Mario smiled, "We're-a ready for anything~!" He looked at Luigi and Goombert who were still fatigued from the fight in the forest. "Eh, but we'll need to rest up for now…that last search was a bit tougher than we-a expected."

"But of course," Adira smiled back, "Take your time, I'll go aware the conductor who shall transport you to the desert." Time passed as Mario and his crew had some lunch and chatted a bit during their break. Goombert was busy writing down the things he learned from the forest and handed his notes to Professor E. Gadd.

"Hey Goombert," Luigi approached the Tanoomba, Goombert looked at him. "Back at the woods…that Goomba knew your name…did you know him by any chance?"

"W-what? That's impossible, how would I know someone I haven't met before? I only f-found out about this place around the same time you d-did remember?" Goombert was back to his stuttering self, "B-besides, there's a high chance that there are other Goombas that go by the name Goombert."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, sorry I brought that up…" Luigi was suspicious about him, but he shrugged it off. "Well Mario, do you think we've rested enough to head off to our next destination?"

"Yeah, we'll need to restock though, let's head to this castle's Item store, I saw one just a while ago, and it had some impressive looking gear." Mario got up from his chair and went down the hall. Once the group finished purchasing wares, they headed back to Adira's office where she had some stuff ready for them.

"Hey boys, I figured you would be done resting so I got you some badges," She handed them each a yellow pin, "Put them on, you've got enough Badge Power now. This is the Close Call Badge, it'll save you when you're on the ropes but it only works sometimes."

"Thank you, Lady Adira!" Mario beamed, "We could definitely use one of these after our last battle…we barely made it last time." He sweated nervously. The three pinned the badges onto their clothing.

"It's not a problem Mario, it's the least I can do. As you advance on your journey you'll surely gain more power to wear more badges so keep your eyes peeled for those. By the way I was meaning to give you this." She held out a dark piece of paper that felt like cloth.

"Ah a map…!" Luigi stared at it contently.

"Giving you this earlier completely slipped my mind, sorry," the Lady smiled anxiously, "This is a definite necessity for your adventure, make sure to always use it."

"Thank you, ma'am," Goombert nodded at Adira, "We shall be heading off now." Goombert exited the room with Luigi.

"Well Adira, we'll be-a taking our leave now, see you later," Mario followed his friends outside.

"Stay safe~" She watched them leave the castle into the town. Luigi looked at the map, leading his brother and new friend into the direction of the train station where they were greeted by an old Toad conductor.

"Ah you must be the mustachioed men and mushroom boy that my Lady spoke of," The GrandToad looked up at the Mario bros then at Goombert, "Well let's get going, no? I have several other passengers who have been waiting to depart to the Bomb-Omb Junction, so let's get a move on." He opened up the train's cabin door letting Mario and Co. in. After they boarded, the GrandToad went to the train's main engine and started it up, he wheezed for a moment but let out a huge yell, "ALL ABOOOOOOOOARD!" The train then started to chug off into the direction of Mario's next destination…

Mario and Co. sat down in their seats casually waiting for their destination to get into reach. There were various passengers sitting all around them ranging from Goombas, Koopas, Bomb-Ombs and Toads. There was passenger that caught Goombert's eye; it was a white Bomb-Omb girl with black hair, she was wearing a blue hat with some flowers on it and some blue heels, the silver blush on her face made her look adorable. Goombert quietly sighed in content as he stared at her; this notion was something that did not slip by Luigi.

"You like that girl over there don't you Goombert?" Luigi made a weird face as he whispered to Goombert while pointing at the Bomb-Omb.

"W-what? N-no way…I don't even know her…" Goombert whispered back frowning. The Bomb-Omb looked their direction, Goombert flinched then quickly looked away blushing which made the girl giggle. Luigi waved at her then poked Goombert.

"Hey, she seems to have taken a fancy to you dude," Luigi was smirking; he loved these sort of embarrassing situations…well only if he wasn't the subject of it.

"Y-You think so?" Goombert blushed harder…he really thought the girl was extremely cute, but he had a job to do so he had to take her off his mind.

"Guys, if you're done horsing around, we should think of how to get through the desert," Mario sniffed, "I looked at the map and judging by the size of it on here, just imagine how big it's going to be for real, we'll need to ration our portions wisely, good thing I purchased some snowmen before we left, this search will be a real doozy."

"What we should have brought were some wet towels…"Luigi said sarcastically.

"Wrong series Luigi," Mario replied with some sass, "Anyways, I heard this place was infested with Monty Mole thieves and of course as any classic desert stage, there are definitely going to be Pokeys. Goombert, you have a read on their weaknesses right?"

"I have you covered with that Mario, don't worry." Goombert yawned.

"Good, so all we need to do is chill on this train ride until we reach the Scorched Sands…"


	5. Chapter 2 Pt 2

**Chapter 2- Onward Mario and Friends-The Scorched Sands Secret**

 _Time ticked by considerably quickly during the train ride, it was smooth and comfortable. Mario and his friends were napping until the sound of the train whistle went off._

" _Attention passengers, we have reached The Scorched Sands, please exit the train with caution. Be safe on your journey through the desert to Bomb-Omb Junction!"_

As Mario and Co. departed from the train, they saw all the other passengers wander off into the desert in groups heading off into different directions.

"Huh that's odd, I thought this would be us just following them to the Junction…ah well, we're on our own again," Mario signed with contempt. He lead Luigi and Goombert while looking at the map which was not really any help at all since the desert area was just a yellow blob splotched onto the paper itself and there weren't any landmarks drawn onto it.

"Mario, maybe I should keep track of the map," Goombert held out a pencil, "I can draw on some landmarks so we can remember where we went."

"Okey dokey then," Mario handed the map over to Goombert. The Tanoomba began to scribble some objects onto it such as cactus or flowers…"Just make sure not to draw mirages on it." Mario always wondered how Goombas held things considering they had no hands…

"Of course not, what kind of idiot would do that?" Goombert replied with a 'what do you take me for?' voice, "But I have to admit…this place is way too hot, who knows if things we saw weren't already mirages?"

"That is true though," Luigi said with nervousness in his voice, "W-what if you guys are mirages too?!"

"That's a bit farfetched, dude" Goombert huffed, "If we were wouldn't you not feel this?" He poked Luigi with his pencil.

"YOWCH!" Luigi whimpered, "Okay, okay, you're right." Mario chuckled a bit, Luigi just glared at him. The trio made their way through the desert, sweat ran down their faces and they wouldn't stop panting. "H-hey Mario…could you use one of those snowmen you bought?"

"S-sure thing bro…" Mario pulled a mini snowman and used the item causing a pool of cold water to rain down on the three heroes. "W-what the-this thing is defective-"

"I don't think it is…it's probably due to the high temperature; it must have canceled out this item's effects. However, at least we have a way to cool down now, cold damp clothes may feel uncomfortable…but it's better than burning up." Goombert sighed in relief. "Hey what's up ahead? It looks like some sort of cave…"

"Are you sure it's not a mirage?" Luigi asked while squinting his eyes making sure this cave wasn't some trick of the desert.

"I don't know, Mario do you think we should check it out…?" Goombert looked to Mario for his approval.

"Uh…it'sa kind of off our track so we probably shou-" Mario got cut short and was knocked out along with Luigi and Goombert.

…

Everything was dark at the moment; although the air felt much cooler than it did earlier. Mario felt extremely uncomfortable, he felt as if two other people had been tied up against him. He couldn't see a thing but when he got up he just tumbled back down due to the sudden extra weight. He tried to feel around his pockets which were empty, all his items including the Book of Creation were gone, and Mario was shocked in disbelief.

"I-I can't believe it! We got robbed…! Now we're stuck in the dark-" Mario yelled. "Stupid desert, this is terrible, my precious hammer…" He tried to get up again, "Guys wake up…! We're in a jam right now!" He felt the two tied up to him move.

"Huh…? What happened?" Luigi yawned, "…" He felt the rope digging into his body, "H-Hey! I was knocked out again? Why do these sorts of things always have to happen to me?!" He started struggling.

"Ugh…my head…" Goombert was all groggy, "We're tied up aren't we? Well this is a fine how do you do…at least it's not hot anymore…but I can't see; the rope is covering my face."

"How do you all propose we get out of here?" Mario asked, "The room is dark and we can't exactly get up knotted up like this; our body weights will just knock us down because of how uneven they are…and all the items we have were pilfered so we can't even use those." The three remained silent trying to think. Goombert suddenly hatched an idea.

"I have a plan, but it'll require all of our strength and willpower," Goombert began, "At the same time when I say 'GO' we all run in a different direction, if we dash fast and strong enough, the rope won't be able to handle the intensity since it can't stretch too far so it'll have to give and break."

"That's brilliant plan Goombert," Mario beamed, "Alrighty, we're ready when you are."

"Okay…"Goombert started the count down, "3…2…1…GO!" All of them started dashing in opposite directions, a few moments had passed by and the rope began to give in, it eventually tore apart from the force and released the trio. "Wow, it actually worked, that is some cheap rope right there!" Goombert smirked.

"It feels great not to be tied up to others, I need a good stretch," Luigi stretched out a bit, "But how are we going to get out of this room? It's so dark I can't feel anything…if only we had our items, we could have used the fire flowers to make some light."

"We'll need to feel the walls blindly, I know that could be dangerous but still," Goombert suggested as he felt around the room. The bros decided 'what did they have to lose' and they felt around too, the room felt like dirt, it was a rounded room…they eventually found a steel door. "Huh, they really want to keep us in, well dudes, we'll need to use some brute force against the door in order to proceed, let's start from the other side of this tiny room and run in a straight line into the door okay?"

"Alrighty," Mario, Luigi, and Goombert went to the opposite side of the room, formed a straight line, and dashed into the door. They ran and ran into the door multiple times until…it finally let through and fell on the ground forcing the trio to roll out into the hall's brick wall.

"Ow…"Mario said rubbing his head, "Let'sa agree never to do that again; once we get our items it'sa time we use those instead of our own bodies."

"Agreed" Luigi and Goombert chimed in. The three made their way down the hall following the torches on the walls. They were more cautious than ever looking around every direction to make sure they weren't knocked out again. No one was around.

"That's odd" Luigi blinked, "No one is here, kind of suspicious if you-a ask me."

"Thanks for saying that, Mr. States the Obvious," Goombert said with a rancorous tone, that snarky remark was from Luigi's teasing from earlier. "Don't jinx that now."

"Rude much?" Luigi snarled back, "All these flavors and you choose to be salty."

"Shut up!" Goombert snapped back at Luigi. Mario got in between the two and stopped the arguing.

"What are you two? Two bratty kids? Stop fighting we have a job to do remember?" Mario said with a harsh voice. Luigi and Goombert withdrew their annoying attitudes. The trio eventually made it too a gigantic room, it had mechanisms they have never seen before. Mario took a look down, "That…that is a long fall, but how are we to get through this? Those…things look like they'd collapse on us." He pointed at the scale-like objects ahead. Goombert took a glimpse at the things and figured out what to do. But before he could say anything a group of three Monty Moles wearing bandanas and shades appeared.

"So that's where's dese intruders has gones!" One of the Monty Moles said pointing at the escaped Prisoners.

"Do you even grammar much?" Goombert barked at them.

"Hehe, nice one!" Mario gave Goombert a high five.

"Argh! How dare youse insults us!" The other Monty Mole scowled, "You gonna regret dis!"

"We the Monty Triplets, are gonna make youse wishes that yo mama didn't give births to ya!" The third Monty Mole yelled, "You ain't not getting out here without a fight!"

"Oh okay, Mr. Double Negative, if you say so~" Goombert chuckled, "But in all seriousness let's get them, Mario bros! They won't be able to burrow down here because of the flooring so we have an advantage!"

"Let'sa go!" The trio took their battle stances. The Monty Triplets charged at them, Mario, Luigi and Goombert leapt up and stomped them causing the Moles to rage even more. They shuffled through their bags and pulled out some items. "Hey-a! Those are our items! So you're the thieves who bashed us out! You're going to fight filthy eh?!"

"SHUDDAP PLUMBA!" The Monty Mole with the red bandana used a fire flower, scorching up the heroes. The next Monty Mole pulled out a snowman which actually worked; it summoned a gigantic snowman which crushed the trio underneath its ginormous girth.

"Ack…I don't think we can take any more damage bro…" Luigi whimpered, "It'sa Game Over here…" Goombert nodded in agreement, the two were losing hope as they tried to hold themselves up.

"D-Don't give up! We still have some HP left, so make it count-!" Mario ran towards the Monty Moles and jumped on their head, which gave the other to a signal that they still had a fighting chance so they followed in Mario's footsteps; they jumped and jumped and jumped until the Monty Moles were on the ropes like the heroes were.

"DON'T THINK YOUSE GUYS WONS YET!" The Monty Mole with the black bandana pulled out a Thunder Rage.

"U-Uh oh…" Goombert stuttered, "Thunder Rages deals five lightning elemental damage to everyone…we need to guard…fast, pray that it doesn't paralyze you…" he braced himself. Mario and Luigi did the same. When the Monty Mole used the item, it released a huge flash of lightning, as the attacked neared Mario and Co. they shut their eyes hoping for a miracle. And a miracle did indeed happen, the attack missed them. "A-ah! Our badges! We forgot about those…our HP was in the danger zone this whole time, it saved our skin!"

"W-what a relief!" Mario sighed with tears coming out of his eyes, "Alright! Let'sa finish this off!" The trio ran at the Monty Triplets stomping their heads finishing them off. "Finally now that this fight is over let'sa get our items back…" He rummaged through the furoshiki bags and managed to find all of their items except for the book and the Bros' hammers. "Oh no…the important things are not in here…"

"Really? Uh oh…" Luigi began to look through the foroshiki bags, "…*gasp* You're right! The book and our hammers are still missing!"

"The map is missing too!" Goombert frowned tossing a bag aside. "This will be a lot more difficult than we anticipated."

"It'sa alright…we got some items back at least, but our rations have shortened after the fight," Mario groaned, "Here guys, eat these mushrooms, it'll build up our strength for the rest of our escape." He handed them some blue mushrooms and they were able to replenish some HP. "Let'sa get out of here."

"Alright," said Goombert, "Now about how to maneuver by this room, see those mechanisms over there? Well the only way to get passed those is through our weights; the machines actually act like a scale system so per say all of us go on one side, the whole system will just dump us down into the abyss. Even going to the center will force us into our downfall. So no offense Mario but, you'll have to go on one side while Luigi and I go to the other." Mario frowned but then nodded in understanding. The three had to do the procedure around three times until they finally made it to the exit to the next hallway. They made their way up the stairs, occasionally getting jumped by Monty Moles but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. They made their way to a room that had a glowing glass floor that required memorization of the patterns. "Huh, for such idiots they sure know how to amp up security. But this'll be a piece of cake." The bros nodded smiling, "Okey dokey, let's begin." They watched the floor make a pink pathway that led to the opposite side of the room, as it finished they followed the path way. Midway, a bunch of Monty Moles appeared at the exit and began throwing rocks at them; breaking the floor. "GEEZ THEY REALLY DON'T WANT US TO LEAVE DO THEY?!" The trio dodged the rocks but they tried remaining on the path, eventually the path was a bit broken too.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Mario took out a fire flower and began chucking fire at the Monty Moles knocking them out. "LET'SA GO GO GO!" The trio rushed through the almost broken path, made it to the end, stomped the passed out Monty Moles then went through the exit which led to yet another hall. "I'm really getting tired of this…" Mario frowned as he made his way up the stairway.

"How many more rooms do we even have to get through anyways?" Luigi huffed holding his chest trying to catch his breath.

"Hopefully the rule of three plays a rule here because if it doesn't…" Goombert started breathing heavily. There was another room ahead of the hallway, Mario took in his surroundings. "This room is empty, but look over there…" There was a steel cage at the side of the room, but other than that the room was just plain. Nothing but heavy breathing could be heard. "Mama mia…there's something in there…" A large banging sound was emanating far in the cave behind the cage itself. Large claws stuck out between the openings as it scratched against the steels, red eyes pierced through the darkness and it immediately connected with the heroes' eyes. The heroes froze in their tracks staring at whatever beast could be hiding behind the bars, eventually the monster broke loose causing the brothers and their Tanoomba companion to jump back. It was a huge Monty Mole with a spiked shell helmet, his eyes glowed red and his long yellow claws were menacingly sharp. The Monty Mole stared at the heroes for a few seconds, snarled then immediately broke a hole through the wall climbing up to the surface.

"Great now look what youse has dones!" One of the Monty Moles rushed over the trio.

"What do you mean 'we'? That thing just climbed up to whatever is up there on his own!" Mario replied glaring at the Mole, he was getting his items ready to pound this enemy out.

"No youse don't understands!" The Mole frowned at Mario, "Our Leader wasn't always likes that!" The trio gave him an astonished look. "Youse sees…he was actually verys kind until one day, we founds a piece of mysterious papers that gave off some evil vibes, which caused ours boss to becomes all loopy!"

"But that still doesn't explain why you trapped us down here." Goombert glared at the Monty Mole, "You even stole our precious gear, why should we trust you?"

"We thoughts youse were the fuzz! We had to do somethings, our Boss coulds of been killed if we didn't trap youse! Youse could of caused him to rage even more!"

"Yet he still did, how ironic." Goombert rolled his eyes. Mario stood in between them.

"Okay, okay, so it was just a misunderstanding, could you at least return the rest of our stuff? We could-a put an end to your Boss's rampage in return." Mario gave a serious vibe with that statement, he held out his hand for a handshake, "Deal?"

The Monty Mole was skeptical but he had no other choice, "Alrights, but dontcha doubles cross us nows." He shook Mario's hand, then whistled for another Monty Mole who had a red furoshiki bag. "Here's yourse stuffs." They handed back the important items. "Ours Boss probably has headed to Bomb-Omb Junction, he left a pathway just diggin' theres so youse should follow it. Just be's carefuls, the Bomb-Ombs there are a more a rowdy types more than we are, if they alls blow up at once…you knows…" Mario gulped and nodded.

"Well, let'sa shove off guys, we've got work to do!" Mario led his group to the top ground. They saw a huge path of lowered sand leading north; taking a deep breath the trio ran across the desert following the trail to Bomb-Omb Junction.

 _Eventually, a small town could be seen in the distance…_


	6. Chapter 2 Pt 3

**Chapter 2- Onward Mario and Friends-Showdown at Bomb-Omb Junction!**

 _In our previous episode our heroes had been imprisoned in an underground thief hideout. However, being the smarty pants that they are, the trio was able to brave their way through the traps that were set in place for them. Even at their time of despair, they managed to brawl their way through hordes of enemies. Eventually discovering the big Boss himself; who was actually a pretty nice guy according to his lackeys. As the Boss escaped through the dusty desert, Mario and Co. followed his trail of destruction to their next destination; Bomb-Omb Junction._

"U-ugh, we-a finally made it…" Mario was gasping for air, "That marathon sure was unforgiving wasn't i-it?" He held his hand over the center of his chest, coughing. Goombert just fell on his face splatting the sand on the ground.

"I n-need a breather bro…" Luigi fell on his back, grasping his chest wheezing. "M-maybe a sip of Tasty Tonic too…" He closed his eyes imagining himself enjoying the beverage. The town was being ravaged by the Boss of the Monty Moles, everyone was running around screaming in terror as the Boss roared and ripped through the ground, destroying everything in his path.

"Mama mia…" Mario stared into the distance watching the Boss Mole wreck all the wooden buildings in a fit of rage. "We-a got to hurry, come on guys!" He pulled up Goombert and tugged Luigi's arm, running into battle. "Let'sa go!" Mario pulled out his hammer, Luigi doing the same. "Hey-a Goombert, could you-a possibly use your tail to smack the shell off of that monster's head?"

"That could work! Someone toss me up there!" Goombert got into launching position. Mario picked him up and flung him directly at the Boss' head. The Tanoomba span around and smacked the shell clean off of the Boss' head causing the Mole to rage even more. The Monty Mole took his gigantic hand and smacked Goombert into one of the building's windows.

"Mama mia, Goombert!" Mario gasped staring at the broken glass, "O-Okay Luigi, we-a need to be careful-"Luigi was stepped on his body way lying face down a few feet in the ground, "L-Luigi!...GRRRR!" Mario took his hammer and tried to slam down onto the Monty Mole's head, missing horribly. The Boss was moving a lot faster without the extra weight on his head, Mario leapt up stomping the Boss but it didn't cause that much damage. Suddenly the Boss began to burrow underground and started to chase Mario. The Plumber began to dash for his life like never before, but he felt the ground rise up from below him, he attempted to jump hoping his time was right…*thud* Mario was slung through the air and he landed in a barrel of water. As he got out from the barrel, the Monty Mole stood in front of him snarling and chortling; he took his hand and was about to crush Mario-*KABOOM* The beast was stopped in his tracks by an explosion! "H-Huh?" Mario looked behind the Boss which revealed that Bomb-Omb Girl from the train ride, she had blown a fuse and evened out the playing field. "O-Oh! You're that girl from earlier! Thank'sa for the save!"

"It's not a problem, sir!" The Bomb-Omb nodded, "Let's save Bomb-Omb Junction now!" Mario grinned and ran next to his rescuer. They both took fighting stances against the Boss who had regained his composure and was ready to wreak more havoc. Mario recalled something important from that moment after he saw the bomb's strength against the Monty Mole.

"Oh yeah!" Mario had a light bulb spring form his head, "Alright, that spell has to be in here somewhere…" He took the Book of Creation out flipping through its pages, "Ah! Here it is! The spell to temporarily raise strength!" The Plumber placed his hand on the page, closing his eyes. "…." Mario and the Bomb-Omb felt a newfound strength pulse through them; they looked at the Boss with a brand new gleam in their eyes.

"Okay sir!" The Bomb-Omb looked at Mario, "What's our first move?" Mario whispered the plan. "Sounds good to me! Let's go!" The Monty Mole charged at them screeching, the Bomb-Omb quickly dashed at his feet and exploded causing the Monty Mole to fly upwards. While that was happening, Mario had climbed up on top of a roof. Once the Monty Mole had come into sight, Mario leapt from his perch and took out his hammer. His got into position spinning with his hammer; he then slammed the Monty Mole down with a gigantic force deep into the ground causing a gigantic cloud of smoke to appear. "Sir! Sir?! Are you alright?" The Bomb-Omb girl peeked into the hole that was formed by the collision, a gloved hand popped out and grabbed onto the ridge.

"I'mma fine, thank you." It was Mario. "*sigh* But my brother and friend, they took some pretty harsh hits…"

"We're fine Mario, don't worry," Luigi and Goombert walked up to them, the two were all scratched up but they were still kicking it. "That was some fight right there, bro." Mario smiled at his younger brother.

"Oh, but I couldn't have done it without this Bomb-Omb Girl right here, she really packed the punch," Mario introduced his new friend, "What's your name by the way? We haven't formally introduced ourselves yet…"

"Me? I'm Bombalina; though my friends call me Lina. I'm actually an actress on the move, but I'm currently on vacation…so I came back here, this place is my home! But then that THING totally went up and wrecked the place…" Lina sighed, "Buuuut, it's alright I guess, these things happen!"

"Hehe, yeah," Mario smiled, "Well, it is-a nice to meet you Lina, I'm Mario and this is my brother Luigi…" Luigi waved hello, "And that's our Tanoomba companion Goombert."

"H-Hi," The boy was pretty shy to meet this girl close up, he looked the other way which made Luigi chuckle at his embarrassment.

"It's great to meet you all!" Lina leapt up, "By the way what are you doing in a place like this-?"

"I believes this is whats they are lookin' for…" It was the Monty Mole Boss who was actually a lot smaller than he was in his monster form, he even looked a lot more chill, "Youse guys saved my skins, for thats I thanks youse. I founds this papers some time ago, it looks important I think it shoulds goes in the right hands." He handed the piece of paper to Mario, which triggered a vision of the next place the trio must go in the hero's head.

"Ah thanks, man," Mario nodded, "Well gang shall we shove off back to Maremelodia? I'm sure Adira will have some say in where we'll head next."

"Yeah bro, let'sa go!" Luigi jumped up, "I could use some time out of this heat…!"

"I second that," Goombert chimed in, "Hopefully; our next place does not pitch some extreme weather at us."

"Alrighty then, let'sa go-"The trio was about to set off.

"Wait!" Lina paused them, "Please take me with you!" Mario looked at the girl with a surprised expression, that look said everything; 'this journey is too dangerous, we couldn't bring you into MORE trouble'. "I don't care about the danger; you guys need some explosives on this team of yours! You three are in something big and I want to help too! I won't take no for an answer!" Mario and his two cohorts looked at each other for a few moments then came to a mutual agreement.

"Alright Lina, you can come-a with us~!" Mario welcomed his new team member, "Welcome to the squad!" The Bomb-Omb smiled and hugged her new friends.

"Oh thank you Mario!" She gave off a determined look, "You won't regret this~!"

The group of now four then departed from Bomb-Omb Junction and began to trudge back through the desert; in hopes that heading back to Maremelodia would reveal their next destination and perhaps a step closer to Princess Peach.

…

" _Where am I?" Princess Peach had awoken from her slumber, "Oh my…I feel awfully comfortable…" She was sitting on a fluffy pink bed that was shaded by a canopy; the girl began to look at her surroundings the room was a nicely colored orange, it had all the necessities one could ever need…there was a small television place a small distance away from the bed, there was a bookshelf right underneath it. There was a balcony just outside but there wasn't really anything to view; the room next the balcony was a bathroom with a light blue color scheme. The Princess then checked another door, which to her surprise was unlocked as she exited into hall there were two Goombas standing out there. She flinched at the sight of them, but the Goombas only smiled and bowed at her. "Okaaaaay…"The Princess was freaked out by this hospitality; never in any in her kidnappings had she been allowed to roam around openly, nonetheless be treated nicely by her captors who wouldn't force her back into her room. She began to walk around the hall; it was actually pretty nice compared to all the other fortresses she'd been held in. The Princess saw a dining area, a kitchen, a place where the Goomba servants would sit down and relax, a library, a room filled with CPUs…she eventually made her way to an office, it was all clean and organized; all the books were neatly placed on the shelves in the walls, there was a desk at the center with a stack of peculiar drawings on it, and there was someone standing at the window. It was a man with black hair wearing white clothing that had familiar gold markings on the brim of it. Peach froze in her tracks in silence._

" _I see…that you have awoken…" The man looked the Princess' way, his eyes looked soulless, "I suppose you are wondering where you are? Unfortunately, that information is of upmost confidentiality, many apologies…" He turned away. "And you want to know who your captor's identity is too...I know it is quite rude of me to not introduce myself, but I cannot reveal that either…" The Princess glared at him. "You are free to roam around the fortress, but you are not permitted to escape under any circumstances. You can also ask my Goomba colleagues for anything and they'll tend to your every need." He continued to look through the window._

" _But…" The Princess took a step forward, "Why are you holding me captive here? I demand you answer me!" She glared at the man, clenching her fists._

" _You will learn soon enough…" He sighed, "Goomadba, could you go fetch the Princess and escort her out of my office?" A Goomba servant opened the door and walked into the room._

" _As you say sir," Goomadba looked at the Princess, "Pardon me, ma'am, my Master wishes not to be disturbed, if you would come this way please…" He led the Princess out of the room._

"… _Your hero is progressing finely, girl. Need not worry; he'll be marching up to this fortress pretty soon and I'll be waiting for his arrival." The man pulled the curtains shut._


	7. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- Movin' On Up!**

 _Time has passed, but Mario and friends were able to return to Maremelodia after their long trek through the desert and short-lived train ride back. As they departed from the train car, they were greeted by Captain Toad of the Toad Brigade along with his partners._

"Hey Mario!" Captain Toad began, "I heard you'd be arriving here; I've got some juicy info on Princess Peach's whereabouts!"

"R-Really?!" Mario gasped, "Where is she?! Do tell!" His attention was all focused on Captain Toad.

"Calm down!" The Captain pouted, Mario regained his composure, "Okay, so remember where Luigi got lost in the forest? Apparently, the place has a huge source of dark magical energy leaking out of it right now; it was sealed up just a bit when you first arrived there. But I think every time you fill the book up, the seal grows weaker. I've got some rumors that if you return there with all the pages; you'd have enough magic to enter a whole new dimension! My guess is that the place is where the dark magic is leaking from; Princess Peach could be being held there!"

"I see, well I guess we-a need to step up our game with the page collecting, huh guys?" Mario looked over to his partners. They all nodded in agreement. "Well, thank you Captain Toad, I appreciate your work getting information." Mario smiled, nodding his head.

"It's not a problem Mario! Please save our Princess! We'll continue our investigations of this town now," The Captain and his associates gave Mario a five fingered salute and marched off into town.

"Let'sa get moving guys, we've got work to do," Mario lead his group back to the Maremelodia Palace where Warren was waiting for them once again.

"Greetings Mario and Company!" Warren bowed to them, "I do believe you were successful on your trip, no?"

"Ah, we-a did manage to snag ourselves another page to The Book!" Mario replied smugly while wiping his nose, "Is Lady Adira waiting for us?"

"Indeed she is, follow me," Warren led the group to The Lady's office. "My Lady, our heroes have returned from their adventure." Adira was staring out the window…"My Lady?"

"Oh! S-Sorry about that! Welcome back boys-oh! You have a new party member!" Adira smiled, "What a nice hat you have there girl!"

"Aw thanks, you look really pretty with that dress! I wish I could wear dresses…" Lina sighed.

"…" Adira felt awkward, "W-well, anyways, I assume you had a vision of the next place, Mario?" The Plumber nodded, he explained about how he saw a light blue valley covered in stardust, the place was all winded and confusing. "Oh! The place you speak of is Starkissed Valley. The place was famous for being a popular dating sight," Adira closed her eyes smiling as if she was thinking of someone, "…It has a close connection to outer space due to the amount of celestial energy the place gives off."

"So how do we-a actually get to this Valley anyways?" Mario asked. The Lady thought for a moment.

"Well, it's actually pretty easy, not difficult at all" She began, "You four just need to go through the exit at the west side of town…oh, and I almost forgot to tell you about the next spell in the book, the next page temporarily forms a barrier around you and your team boosting defense. I think you shouldn't use too many spells at the same time, who knows what side effects those things can have…"

"Understood," Mario nodded, "Thank you Lady Adira, we shall be heading off now." Mario and his friends left the room making their way down the hall which they were greeted by a fragrant aroma. Everyone's stomachs started grumbling. "U-um before we roll, we should probably eat lunch…!" Mario held his stomach sweating.

"Yeah, I feel like we haven't eaten anything for the past day!" Luigi pouted, "Let'sa head to the dining room. " The group made their way to the dining room being welcomed by a savory looking feast, the chef behind this meal was none other than Toadsworth himself.

"Oh! Hello Master Mario!" Toadsworth greeted Mario and Co. They looked at the food awestruck; drool was falling from their mouths.

"Wow-a Toadsworth! I didn't know you could cook!" Luigi's eyes widened staring at the meal, "C-can we have some?"

"Why of course, old boy!" Toadsworth smiled, "Dig in, all of you! You've earned it!" Everyone rushed to the table and started chowing down.

"Thanks Toadsworth, really!" Mario was munching on some ink pasta, "This is delicious! Is this what you've learned from Tayce T. back at Rogueport?"

"Yes, in fact I did," Toadsworth nodded, "I've been cooking ever since the Princess had been abducted, it really helps calm these old bones and what not, if you need any of your food items to be upgraded feel free to give them to me and I'll transform them into culinary delights!"

"Hey Mario, maybe we should *munch* upgrade our mushrooms and syrups so we have more room in our inventory, "Luigi mentioned while gnawing on some shroom steak.

"Good idea, bro! Toadsworth could you do us a favor with those items?" Mario looked at Grandpa Toad.

"I have your back old boy!" Toadsworth winked, Mario then handed Toadsworth his replenishing items, "I'll be heading to the kitchen now, the food will be done in just a few moments so for now enjoy your lunch~!" Toadsworth walked off into the kitchen.

Mario and Co. finished their meal…and replenished all of their health!

"Alright everyone, here are your items!" Toadsworth handed Mario a dozen maple shrooms!

"Awesome! Thank you Mr. Toadsworth!" Lina smiled, "Those maple shrooms look really good!" The Bomb-Omb girl had a real sweet tooth, but she made sure that she wouldn't lose her HP on purpose.

"Okay, perhaps it's time we head out, right everyone?" Goombert started to head towards the doorway.

"Ah yes! Let'sa go!" Mario opened the door and was about to walk out, "Thanks again Toadsworth!" Mario proceeded to leave with his crew.

"It's not a problem old boy! Please be careful out there!"

 _And so…Mario and Co. headed off to the western part of Maremelodia town to their next destination…Starkissed Valley, who knows what trials and tribulations await our heroes yet? They looked up at the blue gate that blocked the way to the outskirts, which opened up only for them. The quartet then made their way down a grassy clearing until a burst of a bright blue light sprinkled with yellow dust had finally come into sight._


	8. Chapter 3 Pt 2

**Chapter 3- Movin' On Up!-Into the Valley**

 _Mario and his crew walked into the foggy Valley, Mario tried to look at the map but Goombert convinced him that it was no use because of this darn fog. The quartet held on to each other to make sure that they didn't get split up._

"Mama mia, how is this place even considered romantic?" Mario huffed, "This fog is giving me a headache…"

"Goombert, can't you be a dear and maybe fan away the fog with your tail?" Lina nudged the Tanoomba a bit, startling him.

"U-Uh…sorry, my tail doesn't function that way…" He stammered. Lina just sighed in disappointment from his response. "…M-Mario, do you know where we're even h-heading?...Mario?" Goombert felt around…

"H-Hey! Watch where your touching m-me!" Lina screamed, "Don't make me blow a fuse-!"

"S-sorry…I didn't mean to…!" Goombert was flustered, "Ugh where did Mario go?...And Luigi too!? Great did we get separated?" The two just stood around pondering on how to reunite with the Mario Bros. "Well we can't just stand around, let's try moving forward. Perhaps we can meet up with them again somehow and I promise that I won't touch you again."

"Oh okay, if you say so," Lina shrugged with her non-existent shoulders, "Let's go." The pair walked deeper into the fog.

…

"M-mario, I think we got separated from Goombert and Lina!" Luigi looked around, "Where do you think they went?"

"What? No wonder it was so quiet!" Mario crossed his arms, "They probably got separated when the fog became unusually thick! Maybe we'll be able to find them again if we keep trudging on-OW!" Mario had tripped over something, "What'sa this?" He picked up a heart shaped rock, "That's peculiar."

"Hm, maybe we should keep that rock, bro. We may need it later." Luigi observed the object.

"Okay," Mario placed the rock in his overall pockets, "Let'sa go Luigi." The two brothers proceeded into the fog; a weird melody could be heard. It wasn't that bad; the voice that sang it sounded quite beautiful as the lyrics slid out smoothly forming a lullaby. "Gee…I-a feel tired…maybe I could-a use…a…nap…*snooooore*" Mario collapsed on the ground.

"Bro!" Luigi panicked, "M-Mario wake up!" He shook his older brother, the voice got even louder and was accompanied by another, "Bro…wa…maybe…a few…minutes…wouldn't hurt…" Luigi collapsed lying on his back. A group of flying orbs of light surrounded the brothers, they were giggling at how 'funny' the two looked.

…

Goombert and Lina traveled through the fog in awkward silence, although they occasionally coughed in order to make sure they didn't get separated. A weird aura could be felt nearby; the same tune that had made the Mario Bros. doze off could be heard.

"*yaaaaawn* I'm awfully tired…" Goombert yawned some more, "Excuse me…" He fell face first onto the ground.

"Goombert! It's not a good time to nap!" Lina started poking him repeatedly, the voices grew closer and closer, "*yaaaawn* N-No….we won't make it out of here if I…." *KABOOM!* Some of the fog had been cleared out, revealing the figure who was trying to put the duo to sleep. "So you're the scrub who was messing with us!" Lina glared at the flying freckled pink orb with a red ribbon on her head, her eyes were orange X's and she had a mischievous smile.

"H-huh? What's going on…?" Goombert got up, "Did you wake me up, Lina?" Lina nodded at him then grabbed his face making him face the enemy before them. "Woah! That's a Love Bubble!"

"Eheehee!" The Love Bubble laughed manically, "Lookie, amigos, why don't you give in right now? Or you will get lost in the fog, foreverrrrr~" She span around slowly which only creeped the duo.

"Ew! No way are we giving in to a creep like you!" Lina went into her battle stance, Goombert did the same. "Goombert! What's your analysis on her?"

"I actually don't much on this foe! But, what I can say is that she might charge at us for a dive attack, not to mention we've already experienced her lullaby, she might still have more tricks up her sleeves" Goombert was trying to get more of a read on this foe. She smiled at him revealing a bunch of layered spikey teeth in her mouth. "Oh dear lord I think I'm gonna be sick-!" The Love Bubble flew around them in a certain pattern and swooped down for the dive, the two leapt up and stomped her for a counter attack. Lina tried to bomb the Love Bubble but her attack missed, Goombert hovered up a bit and headbonked the enemy causing it to plummet. "Now Lina!" Lina dashed into the Love Bubble exploding causing a decent amount of damage. The Love Bubble screeched in pain spazzing out on the ground. "W-we should probably get far away from her-" Goombert took Lina's 'hand' and they were about to run off when suddenly soft crying could be heard. They took a look back at the Love Bubble who was silently crying to herself.

"Y-you meanies…" She sniffed, "I was only following Kumochou's orders...you adults are always ruining all the fun…" The Tanoomba glared at her. Lina held him back, "Meanies…"

"You think this is a game huh?" Goombert snarled, "We've got a job to do! It's no time for fun and games! C'mon, Lina, we need to go find Mario and Luigi." Lina was shocked to see this side of Goombert, but she nodded and they were about to walk off.

"Waaaait…" The Love Bubble caught their attention, "Are Mario and Luigi those weirdly dressed in red and green with fuzzy mustaches? I saw theeemmmmm." Goombert and Lina looked back at her. "Are they your frieeends?" She stared back of them smiling eerily.

"Did you do something to them?" Goombert glared at the foe, "Where are they?!" He dashed closer to her holding her up.

"Ehehehe maaaaybe!" The Love Bubble caught him in her trap; she blew a heart at his lip stunning him; Goombert fell over on his face. Lina watched the whole scene in shock.

"Goombert!"Lina called out to her Tanoomba friend, he had no response, and he was just lying on the ground not moving. Lina glared at the Love Bubble and charged at the winged foe, "You-!" The Bomb-Omb burst into a giant fiery explosion, as the outcome of the aftermath, the Love Bubble disappeared…probably flew off somewhere. "That's right! You better run off you coward!" Lina ran over to Goombert, "Goombert!...Goombert, please wake up!" She held onto him, she felt him breathing, he then opened up his eyes.

"L…Lina?" He got up, something seemed off about him, "You saved me didn't yoooou?" Goombert shook his head. "U-ugh…we should probably go find Mario and Luigi! They're still around here somewhere, let's go!" The Tanoomba started to walk forward, Lina gave him a confused look but she was kind of weirded out by Goombert already due to his two face personality. (Could this be a third face?) The duo wandered off through the fog which eventually led up revealing a winding twisted path far ahead of them. "Great, more thinking to do." Goombert contemplated for a moment, "Alright Lina, we're just gonna have to do a guess and check method here, I'm not able to figure out the true route…the whole puzzle is so obstinate that I can't analyze it. But I'm pretty sure we can pull through." He led Lina through various pathways, they ran into quite a bit of trouble climbing upwards; a ton of SOUL Bubbles were blocking the way. Goombert kept alert though, he and Lina had a battle plan, he'd go off for a headbonk to plummet the foe and Lina would blow up finishing them off.

"Ha…G-Goombert, do you even know wh…where we are going?" Lina fell on the ground from all the exhaustion.

"Well, we're supposed to head to the top of this place probably, the map has a picture of the winding maze reaching to the heavens," Goombert showed her the map, "Just a bit more, Lina, we can figure out this puzzle, it's a shame that this map has a bunch of scribbles instead of an actual lead to the top. Here…let me help you up…" Goombert helped Lina up.

"I thought you said you wouldn't touch me again, hehe…" Lina nudged Goombert playfully.

"A-ah…no," Goombert looked off into the distance all flustered, "We should probably head that waaaay…" He began walking off teetering about, it only freaked out Lina but she continued to follow him. The two finally made their way to the top; a light blue clearing filled with star plants and one individual statue sat at the end of the clearing…two familiar figures could be seen in the distance.

"Hey those two look familiar…" Lina fixed her eyes on the figures in red and green which was revealed to be Mario and Luigi, they were knocked out! "Mario! Luigi!" She rushed over to the brothers, Goombert remained behind staring into the distance. "Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!" She started to roll the bros over, but they wouldn't wake up. "Okay don't hold this against me-" Lina exploded again, the noise was loud enough to startle the bros awake.

"MAMA MIA!" Mario yelled, "L-Lina! You're-a okay!" He looked in the distance and saw Goombert, "Goombert too!"

"WAAAAAH!" Luigi was shivering, his face was all scrunched up in shock, "G-Guys…!" His shaking finger pointed ahead of them.

"What is it Luigi?!" Mario looked at the direction Luigi pointed at. "Woah! What are those?!" There were three flying orbs in front of the statue.

"Those are Love Bubbles!" Lina frowned at the enemies, "We ran into trouble with one not too long ago-Hey there she is!" She saw the freckled Love Bubble in the group, she seemed to be their leader.

"Love Bubbles?" Mario raised his eyebrow, "Well whatever they are…they're going down! Goombert give us an analysis!" He looked over at his Tanoomba friend, the boy just stared into the distance for a few moments then fell down. "Goombert! What happened to him Lina?!"

"I don't know!" Lina paused, "U-Um…when we were fighting the Love Bubble….she sort of did something to Goombert knocking him out."

"Oooooo" Luigi made an impossibru face. "I'mma sorry to hear that." He sounded as if he had an idea of what went down. Lina only made a disgusted face.

"Eeeheehee!" The freckled Love Bubble chortled at the group, "You three have been very baaaaad~ C'mon gang! Let's get emmmmm!" The three charged at Mario and Co.

"Lina! Did Goombert already do an inquiry on the enemy? " Mario asked quickly while watching on the foe. Lina nodded then gave Goombert's explanation in a nutshell. "Okey dokey, let'sa go!" Mario leapt up, Luigi did the same. "Let'sa stomp these fools!" They proceed jumping onto the Love Bubbles causing them to plummet while Lina came in for the finish. "Huh…that-a fight was much easier than I expected." Mario raised his eyebrows. "But I'm guessing these three aren't even the big boss anyways…" Luigi went over to poke the downed enemies.

"I guess we need to do something about that statue right over there," Lina made her way towards the statue being followed by Mario. "There's a heart shaped hole in the inscription part, I wonder what goes in there…I swear, if we have to head back to the foggy area-"

"Hang on; I think I have something that could help us," Mario rummaged through his pocket and pulled out the heart shaped rock from earlier, "Maybe it could work…" He stuck the rock into the hole, it began to shine and the place started to rumble causing the statue to fade away, another pathway was revealed. Instead of being winding, it was one straight pathway that lead to a faraway cloud. "C'mon guys, let'sa-"

"Wait, what about Goombert?" Lina looked back at the Tanoomba, concerned, she walked back to get him. Mario walked next to her.

"Poor kid, he must've been controlled the whole time, must be a horrible feeling…" Mario looked at the boy, "Lina, you'll need to blow up one more time, he may be startled by the sudden outburst but it could snap him out of it."

"Okay," Lina lit her fuse and exploded which woke up Goombert.

"H-huh?! What?! Where-" He got up all shocked, "Oh, hey everyone…where are we…?" Goombert looked around at his surroundings and got the gist of it, "We're at the top right now, aren't we?" Mario and Lina nodded.

"Alright, now that this situation was taken care of," Mario looked over to Luigi, "C'mon bro, we're burning daylight just standing here, let's follow the new path…" Luigi nodded and rejoined the group, he didn't notice he was being followed by the freckled Love Bubble who just woke up. "Hey! You-" The Love Bubble just gave them a blank expression, she then floated on top of the pathway directing the group. "Huh? She's not trying to hurt us, in fact she's trying to lead us…" The Bubble began to float up the path.

"I don't know if following her is a good idea, Mario," Goombert looked over at the older Plumber, "It could be a trap. She caught me earlier…remember?" Mario nodded, but if they didn't proceed forward, they wouldn't be able to find the next page.

"We should make our way up the path and hope for the best," Mario replied, "What do we have to lose, there's four of us and only one of her." He then took a step on the path and motioned the rest to follow.

 _As they made their way up the trail they felt an uncanny presence emanating from the cloud ahead…_


	9. Chapter 3 Pt 3

**Chapter 3- Movin' On Up!-Nightfall's Insanity**

 _Mario and Co. had finally escaped the cesspool that was swirling down below the clouds. They may have struggled through the fog for quite some time, even one of them ending up brainwashed by the place's lurkers, the quartet still managed to find their way to the top, ironically with the help of the enemy. As the four took their finally steps from the path onto the cloud that it lead to, they got a view of an enigmatic fog ahead of them. It all gathered together into one place forming a cloud-like figure._

"M-Mario…how are we going to fight that thing…?" Luigi stood behind Mario pulling at his sleeve.

"Luigi, I've fought clouds before…remember Huff n' Puff?" Mario continued to stare at the boss ahead of them, "There was also '?'…and then there's the Ruff Puffs…" Mario was going to continue rambling on but it was time to fight. "Alright Goombert, can you tattle this one?"

"I have your back Mario…" Goombert took a look at the cloud monster, "They appear to-"He was cut off by the Love Bubble.

"That's Kumochou, she's our mama," The girl's voice was all baby-like now, it wasn't all distorted like earlier, "She turned bad…" She hid behind the quartet.

"Oh really?" Mario looked at the Bubble, he figured it all out now. The Bubbles here are under the head's influence, if she turns bad, they turn bad. "Well, let'sa go snap her out of this funk, we gotta get the next page!" Mario ran over to go leap on the enemy, midway through the jump the cloud split causing Mario to fall on the ground.

"Mario!" Luigi yelled, watching his bro plummet. He glared at the cloud monster then took out his hammer, "Take this!" He ran over and swung his hammer only to fall into the same fate as Mario, except without the falling over. "Uh-oh-"

"Yooooou think you caaan beat meeee?" The Cloud let out a maniacal laugh, "Witnessss true poooower!" She snapped and let out a burst of electricity zapping Luigi, causing him to withdraw back to Lina, Goombert and the Love Bubble.

"M-mama mia," Luigi stood behind them shivering from the pulse of electricity flowing through his body. Lina and Goombert looked at each and nodded, they were going to use the strategy they used on the Love/Soul Bubbles, and they figured that if the attacks patterns were recurring for them, then it wouldn't be different for the boss. Goombert went to go leap on the boss but then he remembered Mario's fate, it was too late though, and he ended up splatting his face on the ground. Lina tried to explode on the enemy, which for a moment it actually looked as if it worked. However, the enemy just reformed herself.

"FOOOOOOOOOLS!" The cloud blew Lina away into the battle cloud's 'walls', causing the Bomb-Omb to become dizzy. Mario regained his composure and leapt up, he looked over to the Love Bubble, maybe he could get her help in this fight. "EEYAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The witch let out a cackle, "THIS LAND IS MINE! THIS LAND IS MINE! THIS LAND IS MIIIIIINE! NO ONE IS ALLOWED HEREEEEEE! INTRUDERS SHALL BE EEEEEELIIIIIIMINATED!" The Love Bubble looked at her mama in fear, her eyes began to water.

"W-w-waa…" She was about to cry.

"Pardon me, little bambina!" Mario dashed over to comfort her, "Calm down, we need to save your mother! Is there some way to subdue her-ah ha!" He remembered how the Love Bubble had knocked him out earlier with a lullaby. "Could you-a sing her a lullaby? It could keep her still for a good amount of time so we could snap her back to normal!" The Love Bubble was skeptical…Mario thought of a way to convince her, "Come on, you can do it! You were able to take on us! You're strong, you can save your mama!" He patted her head which made her feel a tiny bit better.

"I-I will try…" The child began to hum a little bit, which eventually led to a soft soothing song that was directed to the boss, making her drowsy.

"Fooool…you…think…that'll..st…" The enemy started to doze off…Mario saw his opportunity in this, he called his friends who had just recalibrated themselves for battle, they all jumped in for attacks. Mario and Goombert leapt on her head, while Luigi smacked her side with a hammer and Lina caused a fiery explosion, this time, the boss was unable to dodge their attacks in her subdued state. Mario landed the final blow with a hammer smash attack causing the boss to blow up into a puff of smoke.

"Mama!" The Love Bubble yelled, staring into the smoke. "Mama!" She saw figures emerge from the smoke, it was Mario, Luigi, Lina and Goombert. As the smoke cleared, it revealed the boss had been reverted back to her original form. She bared the appearance as a cloud person, she was pretty tiny…her hair was tied up into a ponytail by a silver crown and she wore a pinkish blue kimono. "Mama! You're awake!" The Love Bubble flew over to the cloud person ahead of them.

"Looks like another chapter wrapped up, eh, guys? Another happy ending!" Mario looked over to his partners who were smiling at the reunion.

"Who would have thought the girl was just calling for help?" Goombert thought to himself, "She isn't really that bad, she only had good intentions but they were just twisted by fate…sort of reminds me of someone…" His thinking got interrupted by Lina who was smiling at him, it was more of the 'I'm glad this is over…and…you're okay…' kind of smile which made Goombert blush a bit.

"So are we going to get the page now?" Luigi looked at Mario. "This is the part of the chapter for that, right?" Mario shrugged.

"Thank you four."Kumochou walked over to the group, "I'm sorry about the welcome I gave you all, I was waiting for you to arrive actually, but I couldn't handle this thing's power…" She held up a piece of paper, "I believe you're looking for this, Mister Mario?"

"Ah yes!" Mario nodded excitedly, "But-how did you know my name?"

"Messages get through the clouds pretty easily, if you know what I'm saying," Kumochou winked, "Well, take this page now; you will need it to move onward on your adventure." Mario accepted the paper, at its touch, a vision of the team's next destination had come into view.

"Thank you, Kumochou," Mario smiled, "Now then; we should head off to our next place now, places to go people to see and whatnot!" His party agreed, now that three pages were in their grasp, the passageway to Princess Peach had was unfolding before them.

"I understand; good luck to you all!" Kumochou gave them her prayers, "It'll only get harder from here on out, but remember this, never lose sight of your true reason of embarking on this adventure, forgetting it will only cause you to become lost." The team nodded in understanding, they said their goodbyes and walked down the passage which lead back to Starkissed Valley. Kumochou watched them leave, then looked at the Love Bubble who helped them, "I know you want to go help them; your skills can be proven crucial on their journey, go ahead, my child. I shall see you again someday." The Love Bubble smiled then floated off to follow Mario and Co.

 _The group of now five, headed down through the winding path which took a lot shorter time with the help of their new partner the Love Bubble whose name was Aika. The quintet marched through the valley, not being bothered anymore by any Bubbles; eventually making it back to the gates of Maremelodia in order to hear the news on their next target._

…

" _*sigh*…I'm bored." The Princess, was watching TV which showed the Mushroom Kingdom Cooking shows. "Maybe I should wander around the fortress for a bit, maybe I can find out more about where I am." She got up, making her way towards the door and exiting into the halls. "I saw a library earlier…it could have some information there." Peach walked down the hall and located the library, a bunch of Goombas were there dusting the shelves off; but they paid the Princess no mind. She read through the shelves' labels, "Fighting Instructions…Cook Books…Mystery Novels…Hm? A journal? Why is this here…?" She took it out and began to read…_

" _Today my eyes were taken away…so my Goomba butler is writing this entry for me. I have finally been able to make a safe haven for my Goomba children and I to reside in, we have worked hard to keep ourselves concealed away in the Illusion Forest. With the last of my power, I was able to make a small 'world' separated from the real one…although my eyes are gone, I'm glad I'm still alive, in fact this loss has made me more humble than I was before, all my other senses have been enhanced from this loss. My mind is set on finding a way to collect the pages of The Book of Creation back in Maremelodia for the book must be burned…I am sure a hero will come along to get the book, so I sent someone to do research and to help the hero on their quest…if the pages are collected then maybe I could…" The rest of the entry was blurred off._

" _Let me guess, he wants his eyes back, it's pretty obvious," Peach shut the book, "No wonder his face looked soulless, he didn't even have eyes in the first place! He probably did something so bad that resulted in that, he deserved that!" The Princess said that with bitterness, "This journal wasn't really of help other than explaining that this place was in another dimension but I'll keep it anyways…" She browsed through the shelf for more books. "Darn! No other journals! I need to know more about this person and their weaknesses; the blindness is one…so when Mario comes here I can tell him that! This man must be stopped, but I wonder…what could this Book of Creation possibly mean to the world? If it creates, why would he want to destroy it…? Wouldn't that mean…the destruction of the world? I need to find a way to tell Mario!"_


	10. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4-Tick Tock**

 _Mario and Co. has returned back to Maremelodia Palace, they had their usual spiel with The Lady about the next destination which actually quite closer than anyone expected. It was actually the clock tower in town. The quintet rested up and stocked up on items they would need for a successful trip also learning about the new spell for the book which can replenish HP; they then made their way to the clockworks in the northern section of town. They looked up at the clock tower wondering how far they had to go in order to find the page; they even wondered how they were going to enter the clock for there were no doors in sight._

"That's peculiar…" Goombert furrowed his brows while trying to investigate the clock's structure. "There's no way in! Mario are ya sure you saw this thing in your vision?"

"What do you-a mean? I saw this tower-a crystal clear!" Mario quickly answered, "Are you-a sure we cannot go in?"

"I'm sure, there's no door…! Ah!" Goombert took a glance up at the clock face, "Maybe…we could go in from there!"

"Now that I think of it…there was something like that at Peach's castle," Luigi began, "Goombert does have a point! The clock face here could be a portal too!" The young bro looked at Mario.

"Alrighty then," Mario sighed, "But only one of us can probably get up there because there's no way to climb up there…Aika, can you check the clock face?" Their new Love Bubble partner looked at her new friends, they all smiled at her.

"Okaaay~! I'll go check!" Aika proceeded to fly up to the clock face, she used one of her feet to see if anything was off about it, the face started to ripple. "Eek!" She flew back in surprise, "The face is all weird!" The Love Bubble soared back down to the group. "It moved when I touched it…"

"So my intuition was correct!" Goombert chuckled, "Well then, now to find a way to get up there…Aika is way too er…small to carry any of us up there."

"Goombert aren't you a Tanoomba? Can't you-a fly?" Mario stared at the boy.

"I can only glide, genius," Goombert rolled his eyes, "Besides you think I can carry anyone? I'm not exactly Mr. Athletic…maybe Professor E. Gadd can assist us with this predicament."

"True, let'sa head back to the palace, he should-a be there." Mario began to lead the group back to the castle which to their surprise…

"MARIO THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU-" It was Warren, he was all sweaty and hyperventilating, "SOME WEIRD REPTILE IN A BIZARRE CLOWN CAR ACCOMPANIED BY AN UGLY OLD HAG HAS INVADED THE CASTLE! HE WAS YELLING YOUR NAME AND LOOKING FOR PRINCESS PEACH!" The Toad butler collapsed on the ground.

"Oh-a no!" Mario clenched his fist, "And at a time like this!"

"Looks like we're going to fight 'That Guy' again, Mario," Luigi glared at the castle which was rumbling from the sudden attack, "He always knows how to stomp in and wreak havoc at the wrong time!"

"You bet he does, let'sa go, everyone! We can't let him burn down this place!" Mario rushed into the palace being followed by the rest of his crew.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" A gigantic Koopa was stomping around the throne room of the castle, a rather large hole had been ripped through the wall because of his clown car blimp thing. "MARIO! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE! SHOW YOURSELF!...AND THE PRINCESS TOO!"

"HEY!" Adira appeared from her room with two guards, "Who are you to invade this place? You weren't invited you filthy casual!" She pointed directly at the Koopa.

"WHO AM I? WHO AM I?! BWAHAHAHAH! IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE ASKED! I AM BOWSER, THE MIGHTY REMORSELESS KOOPA KING OF EVIL!" Bowser looked at The Lady, behind him appeared an old koopa riding on a broom.

"Ehehehehe! And I am Kammy Koopa, a beautiful koopa with a beautiful name-" Kammy was cut short by the Koopa King.

"SHUT UP YOU OLD GAS BAG!" He frowned at Adira, "WHERE ARE YOU HIDING PRINCESS PEACH AND MARIO?"

"Mario isn't here you wall destroying jerk!" Adira crossed her arms, "And Princess Peach is long gone! You won't find her here! The Princess is in another castle right now!" The Toad guards pointed their lances at Bowser.

"PFFF, YOU THINK THOSE TINY SPEARS CAN HURT ME?" Bowser snapped his fingers, "KAMMY, HANDLE THEM PLEASE." The magikoopa waved her wand and released a burst of energy, the Toad guards pushed the Lady back and they got hit by the spark of magic which knocked them down.

"Guards!" The Lady gasped, she then looked at Bowser with a sharp gaze, "You'll regret doing that!"

"AND WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO?" Bowser grinned at her with a mischievous smile.

"Leave her alone Bowser!" Mario and Co. came bursting into the hallway. The five of them spread out taking battle poses, ready to fight against Bowser and Kammy.

"SO YA FINALLY DECIDED TO SHOW UP," Bowser turned to his red rival, "IT'S ABOUT TIME."

"Why-a are you even here Bowser? I thought you said you weren't my babysitter!" Mario pointed at his Koopa rival.

"WELL LET'S JUST SAY THAT ANY MARIO ADVENTURE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT A BOWSER APPEARANCE," Bowser's teeth shined as he smiled, "IT WOULD JUST MAKE A CRUDDY STORY IF YA KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN'." Mario rolled his eyes at the Koopa King, "DID YA JUST ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME? HOW DARE YOU!" Bowser started to breathe fire at Mario and the gang.

"Look alive every-a one!" Mario jumped out of the way and the rest did the same. The plumber teamed up with his brother to take on the big man while Goombert, Lina and Aika went after Kammy. "Let'sa rock, bro!"

"Okey dokey!" Luigi called back, the two bros leapt on Bowser's head causing twice as much damage than if Mario were to just go it alone. Bowser ran to Mario and smacked the plumber with his claws causing a considerable amount of damage. Luigi ran over to the Koopa king and pounded him with his hammer. The three took turns cutting each other's HP down. Meanwhile, Kammy Koopa was bombarding the other members with magic bursts.

"Wehehehehehe! You petty weaklings are no match for the Great Witch Kammy Koopa!" The hag cackled loudly and annoyingly.

"Goombert!" Lina was getting tired of being forced to jump around, "Were you able to tattle this old bag of air?"

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME!" The Koopa summoned a block and tried to crush Lina with it; the cube shattered over her causing severe damage.

"Lina!" Goombert cried out, he glared at the koopa witch, "You!" He leapt up and span around rapidly slapping the hag with his tail causing small bursts of damage in a row.

"Little pest!" Kammy waved her wand causing her to flash pink replenishing her HP. "Ehehe! Now to help out His Grouchiness!" She waved her wand again and launched some magic at Bowser causing him to become stronger.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Bowser felt the power surge through him. "I FEEL LIKE A MILLION GOLD COINS!" He proceeded to breath fire at the Mario bros.

"Mama mia-!" Mario stumbled backwards falling over, causing the flames to miss him. However, Luigi wasn't as lucky…he got seared to the point that he fainted due to his HP gauge running out. "Luigi!" Mario placed his hands on his face screaming, "Argh! Bowser!" He looked over at the Koopa and advanced to dash at him; the plumber pulled out his hammer while leaping up into the air. He swung the hammer quickly and smashed down onto Bowser, which didn't really do much damage because of Kammy's power ups. Bowser smacked the plumber at his brother. While struggling to get up, Mario saw Bowser take a step in front of him smirking.

"Ehehehe! Here Bowser let me he-" Kammy was attacked by Aika's sky dive. "Ouch! Why you little-" She smacked the Love Bubble away out the window. "Now then-" Goombert leapt up and headbonked the witch. "Argh! Would you all stop interrupting me?!" She waved her wand launching Goombert in the air causing him to be launched at Mario.

"Woah!" Both Mario and Goombert screamed while crashing into each other. The duo got up looking at Bowser and his lackey.

"Mama mia…we need to get rid of that witch…but how? Bowser is still in this fight too!" Mario huffed, pulling a mushroom out of his pockets. He took a bite out of it and replenished a chunk HP. "Here buddy, you'll need to build your strength too." The plumber pulled out another mushroom giving it to Goombert. The Tanoomba replenished his HP as well. The four combatants proceeded to take turns attacking each other.

"Mario!" It was Adira who was watching the fight the whole time, "The Book! Remember, the Book!"

"Oh yeah!" The plumber looked at Goombert, "Cover me, will ya please?"

"I have your back, man!" The Tanoomba switched to the front lines and started to fight with the enemies.

"Thanks," Mario scrolled through the book and located the page to boost power, "Okay time to even out the playing field." He closed his eyes placing his hands on the page, "…" The plumber and Goombert felt a surge of power flow through them.

"Mario, we should go after Kammy first! Her defense is lower than Bowser's, we need to use our time wisely while we still have power!" Goombert ran to the Koopa Witch leaping up and did a rapid tail slap multiple times pounding a ton of damage at a time.

"Ouch! That actually hurt!" Kammy began to wave her wand about to replenish her health but was cut short by Mario who jumped on her head causing her to faint from demolished HP.

"Okay-a it'sa time to finish off Bowser!" Mario back flipped after completing his attack.

"TODAY'S THE DAY I FLUSH A PLUMBER DOWN A DRAIN!" Bowser just shrugged off the fact Kammy was taken out. He leapt up and ground pounded Goombert into the flooring.

"Ack…" The Tanoomba couldn't move from the hole in the ground. "Sorry Mario…g-go on without me…"

"Oh no!" Mario screamed, he looked at Bowser and was ready for the showdown. "Okay then, if it'sa one on one you want, it'sa one on one you-a get!" Mario took his hammer and bashed Bowser with an immense force. Bowser took his hand and smacked Mario with a mighty force. They took turns until both were on the ropes with HP.

"AHAHA, GOOD OL' MARIO STILL PUTTIN' UP A FIGHT." Bowser smirked, "BUT I STILL HAVE A TRICK UP MY SLEEVE!" He took Kammy's wand and was about to wave it (Mario was watching the whole thing, he couldn't move fast enough to stop whatever Bowser was going to do) until *CRASH*…A glass pot shattered against Bowser's hand causing him to drop the wand. "ARGH! WHO DARES-YOU!" He looked back seeing Adira holding another pot.

"Don't you play dirty in this fight!" Adira was aiming the glass at the Koopa King's head, "O-Or…I'll throw another one at you!"

"BIG TALK FROM A LITTLE GIRL!" He glared at The Lady, which made her withdraw. She picked up one of her Toad guard's spears and held it up protecting herself. "DO YOU THINK THAT'LL STOP ME?" He took the spear away and snapped it like a pencil. The Lady flinched in fear but kicked Bowser's knee in retaliation. "OWWW WHY YOU LITTLE-" Bowser's mouth started to flare up.

"U-Uh Mario-! Help!" She started to back up into the wall. Mario saw what Bowser was about to do, he couldn't let The Lady get hurt! The Plumber leapt up and stomped the Koopa finishing him off.

"Woo…" Mario wiped the sweat off his head, "Are you alright ma'am?" He looked up at Adira, who was smiling in relief.

"Y-yeah, thank you Mario." The Lady gave him a hug, then let go, "Good thing you got here when you did." She grasped her chest taking a deep breath trying to calm herself down.

"Mmhmm," Mario nodded looking at his downed friends, Aika flew through the window crying. "Aw, it's okay Aika, the mean monster was taken down." He comforted the Love Bubble with a hug, he then walked over to Luigi, "Poor bro, he's out cold…" He looked at Lina who was wounded from the block explosion. "And she is too…" The final partner he looked at was Goombert who was slammed into the ground. "Ugh, that-a looks like it hurts really bad." Mario sighed; this unexpected fight really took a toll on his friends as well as his friends. "I…I need to rest."

"I understand Mario, my Toad butlers and maids will help you and your friends…" Lady Adira called for her attendees; they rushed in carrying Mario's friends away to the infirmary so they could be patched up. As he watched them get carried off, he remembered that he needed to find Professor E. Gadd. "Hm? What is it Mario?" The Plumber explained about how they were unable to find a way in the clock tower, but they found that the clock face was actually a portal to the inside, but the only thing between them and the next page was the clock tower's height.

"We-a need to get Professor E. Gadd to help us out, could you-a talk to him about this please?" Mario pleaded, "I need to take a nap…"

"It's the least I can do, Mario, I'll go over and talk to the Professor." Adira walked out of the hall and started climbing up the stairs to the second floor where E. Gadd was working on his research. Mario limped over to his room and jumped onto his bed, taking a rest. After a few hours the Plumber woke up all refreshed and ready to go; he walked back into the throne room noticing that Bowser, his clown car and Kammy were gone, but the hole in the wall was still present. "Oh hey Mario, you're friends and brother seem to be doing alright, you can go see them at the infirmary on the second floor,"Adira emerged out of nowhere, which surprised Mario, "Ah! Before I forget, Professor E. Gadd said he'd meet you at the clock tower. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do…" The Lady went to shut herself in her office. Mario took a deep breath; hoping that his brother and friends' injuries weren't that bad. The Plumber took his timing walking to where his friends were recovering, as he took a step into the room he saw that they were all replenished and healthy looking.

"Oh thank goodess," Mario clutched his chest, huffing in relief, "Guys, I'mma glad you were all able to recover!"

"Yeah bro!" Luigi smiled, "You know your bro Luigi, I-a always spring back!" He leapt up and hugged his brother, Mario patted his little brother's back.

"Ooh group hugggg!" Aika flew up from her bed and joined the Bros. hug causing both brothers to giggle from the Love Bubble's adorableness.

"I'm glad you're alright too, Mario!" Lina was still sitting on the recovery bed, swaying her feet.

"Yeah, what she said," Goombert yawned, "That fight was rather out there, don't you say Mario? Do you think Bowser found out where Peach was?"

"I'm not-a sure…"Mario let go of Luigi and Lina, "He didn't say anything about Peach, I hope he doesn't jump back out again as our adventure goes on. He wasn't there when I returned from resting." The Plumber shivered at the thought. "The Koopa is more of a nuisance than a main antagonist."

"You got that right,bro…" Luigi agreed, "I really don't want to cross paths with him again, the Koopa is persistent I give you that, no matter how many times we beat him, he always manages to somehow come back stronger than before!"

"It's no use think about that jerk now, time is running out," Goombert got up from bed, "We need to find the Professor…"

"Oh he told us to meet him at the Clock Tower," Mario snapped his fingers, "You're right though, we need to head over there, wasting time here won't snag us a page and not snagging a page won't get us any closer Princess Peach! Ready to go Team?"

"Ready when you are Mario!" Everyone chimed in, ready to roll.

"Alrighty then! Let'sa go!" Mario dashed out the door, everyone else followed behind.

 _And so, Mario and Co. finally headed off to the Clock Tower to meet up with Professor E. Gadd who had prepared a way for the group to get up to the Clock Face. Though they have experienced a hardship against an unexpected foe, the group shook off the pain and braved their way forward in order to not lose sight of their ultimate goal._


	11. Chapter 4 Pt 2

**Chapter 4-Tick Tock-Beating The Clock**

 _Mario and Co. finally headed off to the Clock Tower to meet up with Professor E. Gadd who had prepared a way for the group to get up to the Clock Face. Though they have experienced a hardship against an unexpected foe, the group shook off the pain and braved their way forward in order to not lose sight of their ultimate goal. They looked ahead seeing the Professor who was standing next to a rather large crate which was placed directly in front of the Tower._

"Ah, greetings Mario, my boy!" The Professor waved hello, "Oh and hello Mario's company! I see you have all successfully recovered!" He walked over towards his crate, "Ms. Adira told me all about your predicament, I have just the right gizmo that can assist you on your trek upwards!" E. Gadd smacked the crate causing it to open up revealing a gadget that looked like a water powered rocket. "This is F.L.U.D.D, this is an ecofriendly machine that will make you take lift into the heavens with just a sudden burst of water!" He picked up the object giving it to Mario, "The best thing about it is that it recycles water! Your friends can hold onto you too, the jet of water is strong enough to lift all of you up! You should strap it against your waist so I can show you how to use it…" Mario tied the belt across his waist; E. Gadd took Mario's hands and placed it onto the pump handles. "Mario, all you need to squeeze down on to these handles and once it builds up enough the thing will burst into a splash of water launching everyone up to the top!"

"Okay, I got it, Professor," Mario got into launching position, "Everyone grab on!" His friends gathered around, holding on tight onto Mario as he pressed down on the handles. A whirring sound could be heard from the back of F.L.U.D.D as water rushed into the rocket. Once it finally reached bursting point, a sudden torrent of water rushed out of the nozzle causing everyone to fly into the heavens. After the water stopped flowing, the group was suspended in mid-air…eventually falling at the ridge in front of the Clock Face. "Ouch…!" Mario got up rubbing his backside, he looked down the tower seeing Professor E. Gadd waving at them.

"Nice work, Mario!" The elder called out to the plumber, "I shall be heading back to my research now! Good luck on your adventure! If you need me, you know where to find me!" The Professor walked off into the Castle's direction, snickering. "Haha, my invention worked!"

"Alrighty, everyone, looks like we've made it!" Mario faced the clock face, "Let'sa head inside and get this over with." He poked the wall causing it to ripple, the plumber then placed both arms through eventually leading to his whole body being consumed by the clock face. "Mama mia!" A thud was heard.

"Mario!" Luigi leapt up and ran into the clock after his brother, "Holy ravioli!" Another thud was heard. "Owie owie owie…."

"I assume if we do the same just going in there blindly we'll probably plummet too, Lina, grab on," Goombert looked at the Bomb-Omb who was blushing at him. "A-Ah…well if you don't w-want to…"

"Goombert and Lina sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes-" Aika was cut off by Goombert quickly shushing her. "Awwww….no fuuun!" The Love Bubble pouted.

"U-uh…let's go then, I'll go fir-" Goombert felt someone holding onto him, it was Lina, "…!" He nodded then went into the Clock face.

"H-Hey! Wait for meeee!" Aika quickly followed the duo into the Tower, as she entered she saw that the flooring was a lot further down. She saw Mario and Luigi face flat on the ground. The Love Bubble flew down while Goombert glided down with Lina holding onto him. "Maweo! Weegee!" She started poking the Bros with her toes. "Maweoooo! Weegeeeee!"

"They're out cold again?" Goombert bobbed his head to one side raising a brow, "Heh…well this'll be a good opportunity for payback…" Lina looked over at him knowing exactly what he was thinking, even if she found that a pretty mean thing of him to think, Mario and Luigi had to wake up so she lit her fuse and exploded startling the bros.

"Mama mia!" Mario leapt up, looking at everyone, "Oh-we're here!" He wiped the dust off of his overalls and took a look around.

"Yoooow!" Luigi sat up, "Great golden plungers in the sky! That-a startled me!" He got up looking upwards at where he came from, "How are we supposed to get back up there-oh yeah! Mario still has F.L.U.D.D!"

"Eheheh…not exactly…" Mario held up the broken device, "Poor thing shattered after our fall, so it's out of commission now…but there's no time to sob over that now, after we find the next page, we might be able to find a way out later!" He looked downward from the ledge, "Oh gosh…it'sa too dark to see down there!...Maybe my fire flowers could light the way…" The plumber shuffled through his pockets and pulled out a fire flower making him flash red and white. Mario's hat and shirt turned white while his overalls turned red, he held up his hand and snapped his fingers causing a flame to form over his hand. "Well, we should head down now." He stepped on the pathway that was strung against the wall leading down in a spiral pattern; he used his other hand to call his team over. "What are you waiting for? Let'sa go!" Everyone dashed towards him; they began walking down the clock way path. Some time had passed though…

"Hey…do you hear that?" Lina whispered to Goombert. He shook his head giving her a 'I don't know what you're talking about' look. "Are you sure…?"

"I'm sure, don't worry about anything Lina, Mario has us covered if we were to run into any trouble…" He paused for a moment, his ears began to twitch. A mechanized sound could be heard in the distance; it got louder and louder as the group trudged on. The sounds of gears grinding and the clock ticking could also be heard too, some wind was mixed in with the sounds of the internals of the tower.

"Guyssss….are we there yeeeet?" Both Luigi and Aika were becoming impatient and childlike. Mario and the others just stared at them; the expressions gave off the 'Really?' statement.

"We have quite the ways down you two," Mario sighed staring at the hall dropping downwards, "It'sa so dark though and that sound of clanking metal is-a really getting on my nerves!" Suddenly, a weird shell shaped object trundled out from the darkness quickly swerving across the floor at Mario. "Yoooow!" It struck Mario in the leg, causing the flame to go out while Mario grabbed onto his leg trying to rub the pain off.

"Mario! The light you dunce-!" Goombert yelled, his voice was high-he probably got hit in the unmentionables.

"Oh yeah! Sorry!" Mario snapped his fingers sparking up the fire again; he saw Goombert lying on the floor with tears running down his eyes, the boy was biting his lip trying not to scream. "Heh…" Mario only chuckled since the Tanoomba was rude to him just a few moments, but then he regretted that because he knew that being hit down there hurt pretty bad…So the plumber helped the Tanoomba up with his other hand, "Hey, kid you alright?"

"Y-yeah…" Goombert's voice lowered back to its normal octave, "*cough* But what was that thing that charged at us?" He looked ahead; there were two yellow dots of light piercing through the darkness, an ear grating sound could be heard "Oh no it's gonna charge at us again!" Everyone scattered but still remained in the radius of Mario's light. The shell chased after Luigi.

"Waaaaah!" Luigi started running in a circle as the shell trailed after him, the young plumber leapt up and stomped on it bring the shell to a halt. Limbs emerged from the holes, and then a head and tail popped out as well. The enemy was some kind of robotic Koopa, it gave a blank expression just staring at the group with its eerie yellow eyes which lit up a good amount of area which gave Goombert an idea.

"I think it's time to tattle!" Goombert took a look at the foe, "Alright, the thing probably functions just like a normal Koopa judging by its attack patterns! And just like any Koopa who'd get jumped on, we could probably flip it over if we stomped it! Maybe Lina can blow up the thing to bits! So let's get it on the ropes!" Mario nodded then proceeded to jump on the foe flipping it over, the Robo-Troopa was struggling to try to get up, it just laid there squirming and wriggling its limbs.

"Oh no you don't!" Lina lit her fuse and charged at the bot blowing the thing up into several piece causing the light to go out leaving only Mario's flame light. Goombert walked over to the head piece and picked it up, he disassembled it to investigate the bot's internals.

"Mario, light." He ordered as he squinted his eyes staring at the machine's so called 'brain', Mario held the flame over the Tanoomba looking at what the boy was trying to do. "Okay, so that's how it functions…if I just do this, than rewire that there…and apply something here…and voila!" He held up a lantern that he made from the robot's parts, it gave off a brighter light than Mario's flame.

"Wowie!" Aika was amazed, "Yay more light!"

"Huh, now that's something," Mario's eyes widened, "Did E. Gadd teach you how to do something like that? That's a pretty neat trick you did there dude."

"A-Ah no…" The Tanoomba looked the other way all flustered from the compliment, "I usually tinker with things on my own time, so…I'm a-able to figure out how to disassemble and reassemble stuff…" He shook his head, "Well! Back to the adventure!" The Tanoomba hand Mario the light so he could lead. The group ran into some trouble with several Robo-Troopas had attacked the group but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle, just a simple jump tipped the scales in the heroes' favor. They eventually made it to a large clearing, the floor had a clock face design on it and there were clock hands that remained completely still at 12 o' clock. At the edge of the room there was a stairway leading deeper into the tower, as the group made their way towards it…a sudden alarm went off.

 _INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS HAVE ENTERED THE PREMISES! INTRUDERS MUST BE STOPPED! ALL UNITS REPORT TO AREA 2B POSTEHASTE! WE MUST HANDLE THE INTRUDERS AT ALL COSTS! THERE IS A 100% CHANCE THEY ARE HERE TO STEAL OUR KEEPER OF TIME! INTRUDERS MUST BE ELIMINATED, CHANCE OF SUCCESS AT ELIMINATION IS 100%! ELIMINATE THEM! ELIMINATE THEM! ELIMINATE THEM!_

"Ugh! That voice is so annoying!" Goombert was becoming frustrated, "C'mon let's head out of here!" They tried to enter the stairwell but the entry to it had sealed up. "Aw maaaan what now?!" The walls opened up…well not really walls now; they were actually doors that pooled in a bunch of robotic enemies. The area suddenly lit up revealing how deep inside Mario and Co. had actually made it, they looked around themselves being surrounded by Robo-Troopas and a brand new enemy known as the Mecha-Chomp.

"Oh crud," Mario looked around at the number of enemies they were about to fight, "There's only five us versus…"

"One…two…three…four…he y you stop moving I think I counted you twice!" Luigi was counting them which made Mario and Goombert glare at him. "Oh, heh heh, sorry…wrong time?" He shrugged, smiling with embarrassment. Everyone took their fighting stances.

"I guess this is an all are nothing fight!" Lina said with determination, "But I'm sure we can take em' all!"

"That's the-a spirit!" Mario smiled, "Goombert! Do you have a tattle log for the new enemy?"

"I was just working on it Mario," Goombert observed the enemy, "Okay, that's a Mecha -Chomp, when attacking, the LED on its head cycles between red and green, eventually stopping on one of the two. The Mecha-Chomp then throws its head at the appropriate target: Mario if it is red, Luigi if it is green and probably some other colors for the rest of us…If a Mecha-Chomp is damaged; it starts to malfunction, meaning that the colors it displays will be for the opposite targets: red for Luigi, and green for Mario; it may be confusing for everyone considering we're pretty much all different colors…"

"I think we still have it under control though!" Mario nodded with reassurance, suddenly the clock hands started moving, "Huh?! More trouble? Looks like we're going to stay mobile during this battle! All right Team, let's go!" Everyone split off into various directions attacking the enemies, while avoiding the itinerant scalding hot clock hand that swept the area. Mario starting using his fire power blowing up all the bots that he could while Luigi stomped their heads causing them to malfunction. Aika somehow managed to put the bots to sleep with her lullaby while Lina ran in blasting them into pieces. Goombert smacked off the bots' heads with his tail slap attack and he even rewired a few to fight for him temporarily; although they all blew up in the process. Mario and Luigi performed bro combos against the enemies which led to them being swept away easier. After the long battle, the hands stopped moving around 6 o' clock…the stairway was still sealed off though. The door where the enemies emerged from opened up once again, this time a clock themed monster pranced out.

 _It's 6 o' clock! Time to fully recover!_ The Mini-Boss already had full HP!

"Mama mia, this guy reminds-a me of someone…." Mario thought for a moment, "Nope doesn't ring a bell!"

"Focus, Mario, something seems off about this Clock's battle style," Goombert tattled his enemy, "This mini boss goes by the name 'Count Down'. Seems he has a different attack every 'hour' that passes, I have no idea what he has in store though, sorry, so just keep on your toes."

 _It's 7 o' clock! Dinner Time!_ The Mini-Boss unleashed a huge splash of water bursting into a gigantic explosion causing severe damage to Mario and his Party. (As well as cancel out Mario's fire flower power up)

"Ugh!" Mario grunted, "Okay, we need to try to knock this thing out before the next hour!" He took out his hammer dashing towards the Clock, "Luigi boost!" Luigi ran over to spot Mario tossing his brother into the air, he leapt up and took out his hammer ready to slam down on the boss, Mario span around then slammed his hammer onto Luigi causing both Bros. to slam down onto Count Down causing a decent amount of damage. Goombert leapt on top of Lina who exploded launching the Tanoomba a good amount upward while Aika flew up getting ready to launch the boy downwards, once he got into sight the Love Bubble sky dived into him forcing him at the Mini Boss.

 _It's 9 o' clock! Time to take a break!_ The Mini-Boss lagged.

Goombert slammed down onto Count Down with a strong force then leapt up and performed multiple tail slaps that did three times as more damage than it did before. Mario ran over to the Boss and leapt on Him, Luigi doing the same.

"Mama mia, Mario, how much HP does this thing even have?" Luigi frowned at the Clock which was still ticking for its next attack. Mario leapt up and smacked the Clock with his hammer causing springs to blow out.

"I think we're-a finally able to scratch the surface!" Mario clenched his fists in hope. "C'mon guys! We can do it!" Everyone took turns attacking the Mini-Boss.

 **TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK…**

 _It's 10 o' clock! It's Time to Garden!_ The Boss released a Petal Blast, everyone started scrambling…but the petals scattered everywhere touching them transforming them into mushrooms well except for Goombert since he was already half mushroom to begin with.

"Oh my glob-everyone!" Goombert looked at everyone in their mushroom form, "You guys alright?" Everyone was silent, they remained still. "Ugh! Now I have to fight on my own…" Goombert leapt up to headbonk the Boss, he kept attacking as fast as he could until the Boss could reach the next hour hoping that he'd be able to finish Count Down off before the next outburst.

 **DING DONG**

 _It's 12 o' Clock! It's High Noon!_ The Mini-Boss summoned a large, yellow orb that attacked all members of Mario's party, doing significant damage.

"A-ack…" Goombert was on the ropes, "Are they going to return to normal soon?" He looked at the Mushrooms which were all toasted…he made a disgusted face, "I just need to hang on just a little longer…" He started rustling through his pockets…"I know I didn't want to resort to this but…" The Tanoomba pulled out a mysterious leaf placing it on his head. *POOF* He turned into Mario, "Okey dokey! Let'sa go!" The clone took out a hammer and leapt up, he mimicked one of the moves he had seen Mario used before and smashed the Clock inflicting a good amount of damage causing a poof of smoke to appear.

 _It's asdkflajsfksljfsdfk…_ The Mini-Boss ceased to function.

After Count Down's defeat, Goombert removed the leaf from his head and hid it away once more. He looked over at his friends who were back to normal from their mushroom states; they awoke to see that Count Down had been dismantled for good.

"You-a…You beat him?" Mario stared at the Tanoomba with an impressed look on his face, "Now, how'd ya do that?"

"Eh…lucky shot I guess." Goombert shrugged, "We should probably get going now." He looked to see if the stairwell was unblocked, which it was. "Well everyone? What ya waitin' for?" The boy made his way down the stairs.

"Huh, well waddya know," Mario was wide eyed, "He was able to take down a boss on his own…without any items." Mario saw that none of the items have been touched.

"Well, not all bosses require items to beat them Mario," Lina defended Goombert.

"Hey…but Goombert is pretty suspicious though," Luigi butted in,"I can't put my finger on it though…something had seemed off about him since the very beginning of this whole adventure…"

"But Luigi, we all seemed suspicious when we first got into this tower," Lina added, "And Aika was pretty suspicious in the previous chapter (no offense Aika) but look at her now."

"Oh okay, if you say so," Luigi shrugged.

"Hey!" It was Goombert who climbed back up the stairs, "What are you all waiting for?! Let's go!"

"Okay, okay, don't get your tail all up in a knot," Mario frowned, "Let'sa go." He began to lead everyone down the stairs.

 _As the group made their way down, they began to notice how much darker it began to every step they progressed with. An unusual beeping sound could be heard from the Clock Tower's basement…and an odd robotic voice repeating…"Go back…"_


	12. Chapter 4 Pt 3

**Chapter 4-Tick Tock-Temporal Test**

 _As the group made their way down, they began to notice how much darker it began to every step they progressed with. An unusual beeping sound could be heard from the Clock Tower's basement…and an odd robotic voice repeating…"Go back…" Mario looked around hoping that they wouldn't have to go the evil display of combat like earlier on. The group finally made it to a closed off room where the lights were flickering in an annoying fashion._

"It'sa just one thing after another…"Mario sighed, "But…this is for the Princess." He investigated around the room to look for a hidden passageway of some sort.

"And for Maremelodia," Goombert added in, "Love certainly has made you blind towards others, huh, Mario?" The Tanoomba found a switch that fixed the lights.

"You should be talking Goombert," Luigi defended his older brother, "You seem to have fallen into a hole of love too…" He looked at Lina who looked away blushing.

"Guys we have a mission to do." Goombert made a stern face; he noticed that Aika had found something, "See look, Aika is getting something done." He walked over to the Love Bubble who was staring up at some sort of screen…

"Goomy, what's that?" She started poking at the screen. The Tanoomba took a look at the machine trying not to tinker around with the keyboard right below it. Suddenly, the screen turned on and the keyboard started typing on its own.

"Mama mia!" Mario looked at the screen, "Oh-wait a moment…I smell-a some sort of quiz on the plot of this story beginning to surface!"

"Yeah I bet those blocks are what we are going to use to answer, bro!" Luigi looked over to the blocks that were color coded red, green and yellow.

"Thanks for noticing, Mr. Obvious," Goombert remarked still salty as ever.

 _Greetings Visitors, it seems you have made it to the bottom of the Clock Tower, but I shan't permit you to go any further until I deem you worthy. The knowledge of the Hero shall be put under a test, so your partners shall…_

A glass soundproof cage trapped everyone except Mario.

 _Not be assisting you, I will say now that if you fail to answers these questions correctly, your partners will encounter a terrible fate._

Mario gulped, he didn't want to see his friends and brother to reach their Game Overs before his very eyes, he took a deep breath and nodded, "Alrighty, let'sa do this. Hit me with your best shot!"

 _Haha…good…alright then, now, for the first question. At the beginning of your journey, you arrived to the port of Maremelodia to be greeted by who?_

"It was Warren, the Toad butler," Mario placed his hand over his chin, "He was-a one of those snotty elitists who works for Lady Adira." Now that Mario thought of it even more, he realized how a nice person could even tend to such snobbish people.

… _Correct. Your current success is at 100%. On to the next question. It was the middle of the night, Princess Peach was being called for by a mysterious presence, during this conundrum your brother Luigi was forced to chase after her into the Illusion Forest. What or who was the perpetrator that took down your brother?_

"Oh…but I wasn't even there!" Mario scratched his head thinking for a moment… "Hm…well Luigi did say himself that the figure kidnapping Peach was directly in front of him during the attack and that the guy called someone to attack him…judging upon what was the main enemy in the Illusion Forest, I'd have to take a guess that it was a Goomba." Mario shrugged with a faint uncertain smile on his face, sweat started beading down his head.

… _Correct. Your current success is maintained at 100%. On to the next question, at the Thieves' Hideout back at the Scorched Sands, you, your brother and Tanoomba friend found a certain mechanism that functions through what?_

"It functions through…" The Plumber seemed pretty embarrassed for this one, "It functioned through our weights." He looked at his friends who were only watching with anticipation; he was relieved they didn't hear that one.

… _Darn it, Correct…Your current success is still maintained at 100%! This next question will be 90% harder than the previous one I assure you! In Bomb-Omb Junction when you were in combat with the Monty Mole Boss, the fight had a 50-50% chance of either of you winning. Suddenly a new partner came in and tipped the scales so that you could have a 100% chance of winning. What was her full name?_

"Holy Eldstar, those percentages…" Mario closed his eyes, "It's Bombalina, usually all Bomb-Omb names have some sort of playoff with-a bombs. Well except for Bruce from Koopa Village that is, haha."

 _I was sure that there was an 85% chance you'd forget her name after calling her Lina for so long-_

"Wait a moment-how did you-a know that?!" Mario clenched his fist staring at the screen, "Have…have you-a been watching us this whole time?! I knew those questions seemed off but now you just come off as a stalker!"

 _Uh-Uh. You are Correct. Your success is still at 100% if you get anything wrong or talk back your friends will meet a terr-_

"Enough! You-a are just stalling us now!" The Plumber took out his hammer smashing the screen, revealing yet another stairway, "…Sorry TEC, I'll never smash another computer again just this once okay?" He then took his hammer smashing the glass around his friends. "Let'sa head down those stairs guys! We've got some fish to fry!" He dashed down the stairs.

"Aw yeah! Another battle, I'm so done with this place," Lina leapt up running after Mario, "Time to blow some things up! Ka-BOOM!"

"H-Hey wait f-for me, bro!" Luigi followed them down the stairs. Goombert and Aika just looked at each and nodded. They made their way down the stairs as well finally making it to what seemed to be the final room in the basement. There was a curtain just on the far side of the room. "Something seems off about that curtain there…w-what if there's more robots?!"

"If there are more robots, it won't be a problem!" Lina winked, "They'll end up bein' scattered everywhere like confetti once I'm done with em'!"

"Something about it gives me a whole Merlon of Oz sort of feel…" Mario glared sharply at the curtain before them, "We're about to meet the puppet master of those robots; he might be cunning so we oughta attack from all angles."

"Agreed, everyone spread out," Goombert directed them, everyone stood in front of the curtain in a brushed out formation. "Okay Mario, you do the honors."

"Time to put this fool in his place for wasting our time making us walk down this tall as the Great Deku Tree clock making us fight so many any robots…" He tugged at the cloth hard, it didn't budge."Being stubborn eh?" Mario rummaged throughout his pockets, pulling out a fire flower, "You-a forced me to do this, I don't want to but I will!"

 _INTRUDERS! MECHA-KOOPA PACK ATTACK!_

"Oh no you-a don't!" Mario powered up, snapped his fingers and lit the curtain on fire reducing it into rubble. It reveal a dusty Koopa wearing some sort of steampunk like attire sitting at a mechanized station that had a whole bunch of computer screens that revealed to be a surveillance system of the entire Clock Tower. "Great-another filthy Koopa! Let's get em'!" Everyone jumped at the Koopa who somehow was quick enough to slip out of their grasp.

"There is a 100% chance that you will be unable to capture me!" He smirked at the group who was awestruck from his escape.

"STOP IT WITH-A THE PERCENTS-WHERE ARE YOU EVEN GETTING THEM?!" The Red Plumber was ready to launch fire balls at the Koopa.

"Yeah!" Aika chimed in, "All this math makes my head hurt!" Luigi crossed his arms staring at the Koopa who was backing up onto the wall.

"Where's the page? We know you have it! Give it to us and you won't get hurt!" Lina demanded. "I'll blow a fuse if you don't cough it up!"

"There is a 30% chance that you'd be able to do that." The enemy knocked some weird tune on the wall making it flip over with him against it. It then shattered open revealing a gigantic Koopa Robot walking out once the smoke cleared, the page could be seen in a glass orb within the bot. "It is a guaranteed 9999% that I shall eliminate you all with this mechanical marvel!"

"Looks like some Magnus Von Grapple rip-off, he even has the color scheme ripped off," Mario was unimpressed, "Goombert you have a tattle on this one?"

"Glad you asked Mario! Huh, well this robot seems pretty well put together but who the heck would expose the power source like that? Glass is way too easy to shatter!" Goombert observed the robot a bit more, "I'd watch for any missile attacks, and since this model does bare the same traits as the Mecha-Koopas its attack patterns may be parallel to theirs. Buuuut, I highly doubt we can flip a monstrosity like that over so we can't drop its defense to zero!" He had a feeling that shattering the glass wouldn't be easy though, the exposed area seemed way too obvious…"We'll need to hit hard at its weak points such as its arms and legs!"

"There is an 80% chance you will be unable to nullify my defenses!" A shield formed over the glass area, the Koopa then proceeded to shoot arm missiles at them. All the party members started defending for the incoming attack, Mario shot some fire balls at the Koopa Robot's legs while the arms were chasing them around. Lina tripped over and the arm was still flying towards her, but Goombert intercepted it with a tail slap repelling it back causing the arm to strike the robot itself. The arm then reattached itself. Aika swooped in when Luigi was readying his hammer to repel the other arm, the two of them smacked it with a might force causing the robot to ironically get hit once again. Lina rushed in a bombed the robots legs causing the Robot to tip over and fall on its shell.

"Oh hey look, Goombert!" Mario laughed, "Looks like you were wrong about flipping the thing over!"

"S-shut up Mario!" Goombert just glared at him, "I-it doesn't look like you did any work trying to figure the machine's movements yourself!" Mario just rolled his eyes and proceeded to jump on the Robots' chest.

"Come on, Luigi!" The Plumber called for his brother, the two sprung up. Mario took out his hammer and aimed for the chest he made a large fire ball and chucked it at the area; he then swung as hard as he could, pounding down on the shield while Luigi leapt on his hammer with a tremendous force causing the shield to malfunction and reveal the glass shield. The two brothers were knocked off by the Robot's struggling which led to it eventually getting back on its feet again. "Hey-a Lina could you-a bomb the legs again?"

"I gotcha, Mario!" Lina rushed towards the Koopa Robot's legs.

"There is 100% chance that I will not fall for that again," The Robot withdrew into its shell and did a spin attack that absorbed everyone's HP which launched them into the Danger Zone! "Now that my health has been replenished 100% and you all have a 5% chance of winning considering your mushrooms have run low, it's time to-"

"Oh! But your statistics are quite wrong, my robo-buddy," Goombert interrupted, "The chance of winning shall always be on the Hero's side, right Mario?" He whispered about the book, Mario knew what spell the Tanoomba was talking about. The Plumber scrolled through the pages and located the healing spell, he closed his eyes focusing his energy. Everyone's health had been replenished!

"What?! That was not in the plan! You all cheated!" The Koopa whined.

"Aw, quit your whining ya baby!" Goombert barked at the Koopa. "Alright, new game plan! Mario since that spell is over, is it possible to use another one?"

"Well, I don't see why not, Adira said we can only use one at a time," Mario began scrolling again, "She never said we couldn't use one after another!" He located the page and placed his hand over it, "…" Mario and his party felt a new energy course through them. "Alright crew! Let'sa rock!" Everyone started an onslaught of attacks against the Robot. The Koopa himself was very confused and stunned on how they threw off his plans which he carefully stitched together the whole time he watched them travel through the Tower. He got up and shook everyone off into various directions. The robot released another spin attack trying to absorb everyone's health but Mario was able to halt the process by using his perfectly timed jumping technique. Luigi gave Mario a boost by launching him in the air, Goombert span him around while he took out his hammer…Lina ran at the Koopa Robot's legs blowing up causing the machine to topple over while Aika sky dived at Mario forcing him down onto the glass chest of the robot causing it to crack. Mario finished this off by slamming his hammer down shattering the glass and releasing the page that was sealed within.

"Nooooo!" The Koopa popped out from his control center, "That's the only thing that ever made me feel like I have power! Don't take it!" Everyone's eyes focused on him, he gulped, "Please…I never felt 110% confident before…"

"…" Mario walked up to the Koopa, "But, that power made you all loopy in the-a head, I mean, you attacked us with robots for Pete's sake!" He crossed his arms, "Besides, we need this page for the sake of saving Pe-I mean saving this island!"

"You don't need paper to feel special!" Aika flew towards the Koopa, then placed her foot on his chest (which is her way of pointing)"It's your heart that makes you brave not stuff!" That was a pretty wise phrase that came from this Love Bubble, which made the Koopa feel a lot better.

"Thank you…" He replied, smiling subtly, "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused…here's the page," He took it out of its resting place, "I suppose this will contribute 25% more to your journey…" The Koopa handed it to Mario. After the Plumber touched the paper, the next destination had been revealed within his mind.

"It'sa fine," Mario nodded, clutching the page, "Just make sure never to make the same mistake again people don't appreciate troublemakers ya know. We'll be off now. Let'sa go team." As Mario and his friends were about to exit the room, the Koopa ran after them halting the group at the stairway. "Hm?" Mario looked at the Koopa raising an eyebrow.

"C-Can I come with you guys?" The Koopa twirled his fingers, "I can be of 100% assistance to this team of yours…you five are the only ones who have ever been nice to a nerd like me…" The group huddled discussing if they wanted the troublemaker on their side, they figured his intelligence could be of use so they accepted him.

"Okay," Mario nodded, "My associates and I have come to a mutual agreement, we shall allow you to go with us on our quest, what's your name by the way?"

"Oh thank you! Thank you Mario! I am 99.99% happy that you allowed me to join! You may call me, Koopfaheem because that is my name," Koopfaheem smiled, "I shan't let any of you down!"

"I'll-a take your word for it," Mario smiled back nervously, "Well it's about time we shove off, Maremelodia won't save itself now!"

 _And so, with a new page in hand, Mario and Co. began to climb back up the Clock Tower so that they can return back to town and finally back to the castle where they would eat dinner and have a well-deserved rest. But one thing still lingered on Mario's mind._

" _Where was Princess Peach? Shouldn't she be sending me a message of hope right about now? Did something-a bad happen to her? I pray to Eldstar that she is alright…"_

…

" _*yawn* I wonder what mischief I'll get myself into today," Princess Peach was lying on her bed reading various random books that contained fairy tales in them. "I should poke around this fortress some more, perhaps I'll find a way to communicate with Mario somehow! I wonder how they're all doing back there without me…I bet Mario is already jumping around collecting clues on my disappearance…and Toadsworth worrying more and more about me than ever." She sighed, "Well, time to take a look around." Peach got up and took a walk through the hallway._

" _What is your plan for the hero, Korell?" It was the voice of the Goomba butler, Goomabda, "He's making a significant amount of process and gaining new powers that could overthrow you if you wait for him to gather all of the pages, shouldn't we try taking the offensive?" It was echoing from the floor below._

" _!" Peach needed to get this crucial clue, then find some way to communicate with Mario, "Now how to find the bottom floor of this cursed place." She looked around then finally located a door she hadn't seen before, "Well, down the hatch I go~!" The girl opened the door then was greeted by the stairs that led down to the basement, the voices got a bit louder as the Princess made her way down the stairs. "…" There was yet another hallway with plenty of doors; however, no Goomba maids or butlers were present. Near the end of the hall there was an open door, the voices seemed to be emanating from there…the Princess peeked inside and saw the man who was staring straight ahead, but he had his hand on a table that had peculiar figurines. Goomabda was asking his master about their plans on what to do about Mario. "Korell…" She whispered under her breath…_

" _The hero had already managed to…defeat Gooroth of the Illusion Forest, " Korell still kept his face facing forward, but he moved a figure that looked like a monstrous Goomba, "As well as tame the Big Boss of the notorious Monty Gang that roams the Scorched Sands…" He moved another figure that looked like a gangster Monty Mole, "He even bested the cursed Kumochou who watches over the Starkissed Valley," Another figure was moved, this time a cloud-like creature, "And he had just completed his combat against Koopfaheem, the corrupted intelligent Koopa of Maremelodia's Clock Tower," Korell moved the final figure over which looked like an action figure. "Four pages are down, but I highly doubt the Hero bothered to actually read its contents…" The four figures were placed in a circle around six figures which was Mario, Luigi, Goombert, Lina, Aika, and Koopfaheem. "It's quite a shame really," He shook his head, "He would have had this whole ordeal figured out if he just read them…but for now, I intend to watch his movements. His growing ambition will surely be his downfall as soon as he arrives here." The man walked over to a drawer pulling it open, pulling out another figure, but Peach was unable to see what it was, "Another obstacle shall be placed in his way," He placed the figure far from the others, "Soon I'll be able to get the Book and end this dispute with Adira once and for all…"_

"… _He…He knows Adira? He might do something horrible to her if Mario messes up!" Peach gasped, "I need to find a way out of here-"_

" _Princess, you should really stop lurking around the halls," Korell called out, "You can't really escape from here…there's nothing but a void of magic beyond the exit." Princess Peach walked out from her hiding place to face Korell. "I know what you're thinking, so go ahead do it, prance out there to see what the exit has to offer you." His face was stoic just staring blankly at the table._

" _Maybe I will!" Princess Peach scowled, making her way through the fortress, "I need to get out of here…! Mario needs me!"_

" _Korell, are you sure you would let her do that? She knows way to much already…" Goomabda looked down the hall with a worried glance._

" _She won't be able to do anything like that…" Korell thought for a moment, "Perhaps, you wish to assist her with communicating with her special one, do not tell her I allowed this. I think her messaging him will be proven…quite useful for my plan."_

"… _As you wish Korell." Goomabda nodded in understanding, "I shall be taking my leave now." The butler made his way out of the room shutting the door._

" _Mario…is it? You better make the wise decision to give me the Book…or else…everything you know and love shall reach a terrible fate…"_

 _Peach made her way out of the exit which was shrouded in darkness, "Oh dear…what a jam I've gotten myself into…" She gazed at the never ending void ahead, hoping that Mario and Co. would be alright…"Oh Mario…please….please don't be reckless, you need to defeat this foul man soon or Maremelodia will be done for…"_


	13. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5-Powered Up Corruption**

 _Have you ever felt alone even in the company of others? Just because you felt as if you betrayed the one closest to you? To feel hurt or lost? To be on the edge of falling down and no one is there to save you? No I don't know what it's like..._

"Hey Lady Adira!" It was Mario's voice, "You seemed in some kind of daze right-a there, are you alright?"

"…Huh?" The Lady blinked, "O-Oh, hello Mario! And everyone else! I see you made it back and…made yet another friend! How'd this trip go?"

"…" Mario shrugged at the fact that Adira ignored his question, "It was-a really tedious but we still managed to snag yet another page! This time I had a vision of some kind of volcanic mining area!"

"Volcanic Mining Area…I think you speak of Fire Blossom Island," Adira began, "It's a small island apart from this one, it's not that far off though, you can get there by boat I believe."

"Alrighty, that'll be a piece of cake then!" Mario wiped his nose smugly, "So what about our new page? What's our new power?"

"Well, it's actually an obvious one you know…" Adira shrugged, "I mean you just went to a clock, so this one's power is to stop time within a battle, temporarily though, so I think you should be quick on your feet during a fight but I know you all probably are!" She smiled.

"Heh, you got that right, ma'am," Luigi said smirking, "With-a the Mario Bros. nothing can ever go wrong!" Goombert rolled his eyes at that statement, Lina smacked his back.

"I'm sure that's true," The Lady giggled, "Well I do believe this is the part where you all prepare for you next journey, no?"

"Indeed it is!" Mario leapt up in enthusiasm, "Alright, gang, looks like we have another mission on our hands!" He lead his group out of the room, he then looked at his team, "Sooo, my experience with Fire Levels are pretty decent, I think we should get quite a few items that'll secure us not getting roasted to a crispy toast color."

"Try to get the GOOD snowmen this time," Goombert sighed, "I mean seriously; if they didn't survive the Scorching Sands, I'm pretty sure it's Game Over at a place that's hot as an inferno."

"I will, sheesh," Mario pouted, "Anyways, perhaps we should also purchase some new badges too, our collection right now could use an upgrade. (Within the previous chapters the gang had purchased several badges such as a Damage Dodge, Happy Heart, Happy Flower, and Money Money, they also kept the badge that Adira gave them which was the Close Call) I've got some badges in mind that might suit the possible enemies we may face at the Volcanic Area. I'm pretty sure Embers will be flourishing there…" The assembly made their way to the Town's bazaar and split up to purchase some wares to assist them on their journey. Mario and Luigi browsed at all the badges that were sprawled out on a blue carpet at a local Shy Guy merchant's shop.

"Wowie, why must badges always be so expensive every single place we go to?" Luigi sweated at the sight of the prices marked on the badges.

"It'sa probably how these 'RPG' mechanics wor-wait what am I-a even talking about?" Mario eyed a few certain badges, "Ah-ha! A Fire Shield Badge and Ice Power!" The Plumber pointed at the two badges, "We'll-a take those ones, sir!"

"…That'll be 400 coins for both of these badges," The Shy Guy Merchant picked up the badges and placed them in a paper bag.

"400 coins?! That's highway robbery!" Luigi thought staring at Mario with a surprised look. The Big Bro was used to spending hundreds of coins on badges, he didn't really care about the hassle, keeping good stats comes with a price. Mario pulled out his sack of coins and handed it over to the merchant.

"There, 400 coins," Mario took the paper bag with the badges, "Okay, we should-a regroup with the others."

 _Meanwhile…_

"Goomy are these items any goooood?" Aika hovered over the snowmen piled up in a crate.

"I think those will work for us," Goombert walked over to where Aika was, "They look no different from the ones we bought earlier on our adventure…but hopefully these aren't duds." He picked up a bunch of items and went to pay for them. Afterwards, Goombert and Aika went to regroup with the others. They saw Lina and Koopfaheem chatting about something; eventually looking over to the Tanoomba and Love Bubble which caused them to stop talking. "U-uh, hey, so we got the stuff…" Goombert looked flustered which confused Aika.

"Goomy what's wrong?"

"I-it's nothing…oh look Mario and Luigi are here!" The Tanoomba quickly changed the subject as the Mario Bros. walked over.

"Okey dokey, everyone," Mario began, "I do believe it'sa time we shove off to Fire Blossom Island!"

"Yeah," Luigi continued off from there, "My-a bro and I bought some tickets for the well…heh…tuna that's going to give us a ride there."

"…Tuna?" The rest of the group gave the Plumbers a skeptical look.

"Just wait and see," Luigi snickered. He seemed pretty ecstatic about this tuna thing; probably because he wasn't able to see the 'Tuna' back at the Mushroom Kingdom. The group made their way to the docks and were greeted by a large fish like mammal.

"Luigi, you said that we were going by Tuna," Goombert stared at the whale, "This is a gosh darn whale." Luigi ignored the remark and stared at the whale with a gleam in his eye.

"Goombert, just go with it," Lina nudged him a bit, "I mean look at everyone else, they seem pretty excited, I'm pretty excited too!"

"…Okay." Goombert looked at Lina then back at the whale.

"Is everyone ready to goooo….?" The whale let out a huge yawn, "I'll be heading to Fire Blossom in a few so just hop on so I can go…" Mario signaled for his friends to hop onto the whale. "Oookay….let's shove off then…" The whale began to swim away from the dock; it took around an hour for the whale to cross the sea that leads to Fire Blossom Island. "Huh…you all must have a Game Over wish to go here, haven't you heard of the unsavory rumors…but I won't judge…*yawn* Well, have a safe trip…" Mario and his crew leapt off the whale onto the solid rock ground below, the whale then swam off back to the main Island.

"Alrighty crew!" Mario took a gander at his surroundings, "Looks like we have some serious work to do…." There was lava streams branching throughout the island, there were several metallic houses spread out everywhere in quite a disorderly mess, in fact there was no sign of a civilization anywhere.

"Bro, what do you think that tuna meant by unsavory rumors?" Luigi lightly tugged at Mario's sleeve.

"I'mma not to sure myself, Weegee, but that-a won't stop us," Mario replied with determination, "We've gone to places with 'unsavory rumors' before, this one will be no diff-" He was cut off by a voice that came from above.

"Heeeey!" A Lakitu flew down to where the crew was, "You dudes ain't from around here ain'tcha? We neva get visitas on this island. I'm Lucky, a Lakitu miner, well sorta a miner…we got a corrupt business goin' on here."

"Ah really…?" Koopfaheem looked up at the Lakitu, "If I may be wrong no one is outside at the moment, isn't mining a 100% outdoor activity?"

"You sound like a tota nerd, but eh…" Lucky shrugged, "We ain't supposed ta be out at the moment, it's break time, there'sa plenty o' rules that are set on this island but I don't give squat about them, I never get cau-cau-aaaachooo!" The Lakitu sneezed, "Aw nuts!" Suddenly, an alarm went off and a bunch of Chain Chomps ran towards the group.

"Everyone scramble!" Mario yelled. He and his crew ran into the nearest metal house while Lucky was trying to retain his composure. They watched as Lucky was dragged away to an unknown place. "Oh my gosh…" Mario grasped his chest, "That was-a close one…"

"But Mario! We could have totally took them!" Lina had a flame in her eye, "That just wasn't right!"

"That would be 70% impossible," Koopfaheem adjusted his glasses, "The Chain Cho-"

"The Chain Chomps defense levels are extremely high, even if we were to fight them, it would take a while," Goombert cut Koopfaheem off, "And within that time span, we would attract more attention causing more Chomp ruckus than we would actually want." Koopfaheem looked a Goombert with a blank expression, but he knew what the Tanoomba was thinking.

"We don't want that," Mario peeked outside to see if the coast was clear, "Maybe we have…to wait and bide our-a time? We can't waste our energy this early in the level, especially because there's no actual town here, who knows where the next Toad House could possibly be?"

"Excuse me, who are you strangers?" A Lakitu woman with orange hair wrapped up in a kerchief floated out from the back door, "Are you friends of my son Lucky?"

"…" Mario stared at the woman with a look of concern after what just happened a while ago, "U-Uh, we-a are only acquaintances of your son, you see…something happened to him…."

"He got caught again didn't he?" She didn't seem that concerned at first, "THAT BOY ALWAYS GOING OFF AND STARTING A COMMOTION! …Why couldn't he just be like his father?" She looked over at a family photo that was hung on the wall, "Richard was always such a hard worker who stayed in line…but Lucky…he has been such a rebel lately after that tragic day…" Mario looked at Luigi giving the 'moodswings much?' look.

"I'mma sure we could go fetch him for-a you!" Mario held one of the Lakitu's hands and gave her a look of reassurance, "You see ma'am, where we come from, we're heroes! Saving others is our job!"

"Oh thank you Mister!" The Lakitu smiled, "Just be careful though, rules are extremely tight on this island, if you take one step out of line, you'll end up locked up too and I hear it's difficult to get out! The Sorceress that runs this place is not very forgiving; she makes us work our clouds off to mine for crystals. Ugh! She is very INFURIATING! You can't even sneeze without getting caught I swear, she makes up the most stupid rules because she thinks she's protectin' us!"

"So she's corrupted?" Goombert butted in, "Huh typical…" He rolled his eyes while peek through the blinds. "It seems everyone is out and about now though. Shall we start our trudge?"

"Yeah," Mario nodded, "By the way ma'am, where exactly is your-a son being held?"

"I never actually know where he's imprisoned…" The Lakitu sighed with embarrassment and contempt, "But, rumor has it that when we Lakitus break the law, we get dragged into the volcano…"

"I deduce that there is a 100% chance that there is a secret tunnel within the volcano itself," Koopfaheem crossed his arms nodding, "Perhaps if we poke around, there is a 50% chance we could manage to locate the tunnel!"

"Because obviously if we jump in the volcano we'll totally find that tunnel," Goombert replied with sarcasm.

"It could be a possibility," Koopfaheem tapped his foot, "Jumping in also has a 50% chance for entry, due to the high security measures placed on this island."

"Well, jumping or no jumping, I say we just ask for directions," Lina frowned, "I mean I'm positive the people of this island have been tossed in the cells once or twice, they might know something!"

"Lina is onto something," Mario chimed in, "Well everyone let'sa split up and ask around, we're-a burning daylight here!"

 _And so, Mario and his crew scattered onto the lava streamed island asking around about the secret prison that was plaguing the island's inhabitants for so long…_


	14. Chapter 5 Pt 2

**Chapter 5-Powered Up Corruption-The Imprisoned Ones**

 _Mario and his friends split up to ask the local Lakitu miners about the prison of the island. However, each miner gave the same response which was not as much help as they hoped they would get._

"I'm sorry but we can't tell you that…telling you that would break the law…"

"YO, we're just trying to help you all out!" Goombert snarled at one of the Lakitus, "Why do you all have to be so-"

"Being irritated is unhealthy and being unhealthy is against the law."

"…" Goombert just stared with a look of condescension in his eyes, "Well, if you wish to live like this for the rest of your natural born lives, so be it, I don't have time for this…" He walked off mumbling and eventually bumped into Mario. "Oh, hey Mario! Any luck?"

"No…" The Red Plumber sighed with a hint of frustration, "All these Lakitus keep talking about the laws of this place, I mean, who-a has the time to memorize all this nonsense? I could-a barely remember the formulas I learned back in elementary school when I was just a little bambino!"

"Speaking with exclamation points is against the law too." A Lakitu flew passed them.

"Who asked you?!" Goombert shouted at them; "Ugh, after this I'm going to need some serious aspirin…" He held his head down. "I wonder if the others had any luck…"

"Hey, I doubt it," Mario shrugged as he watched Luigi walk towards them clutching his head. "Bro…?"

"…I…have…never…met such …"Luigi huffed, "Asking for directions was a stupid idea…" He took off his hat fanning himself off. "Who was the idiot who tho-"He saw Goombert glaring at him so he zipped his mouth. Suddenly a huge explosion went off, causing the three to jump.

"Goomy! Malleo! Weegee!" Aika flew over to them, "Li blew up! She got all mad and um…went like ka-boom! Now the mean puppies are fighting her!" She started to fly back into Lina's direction, Goombert quickly followed behind with Mario and Luigi; eventually also regrouping with Koopfaheem.

"Perhaps this is our chance!" Koopfaheem panted, he wasn't exactly Mr. Athletic, "There's a 70% chance that the Chomps could lead us to our desired destination! *cough* *cough*"

"Can you stop with the gosh darn percentages?!" Goombert frowned, "I have a bad headache right now and I don't need your mathematics to pound down on my head too!"

"You're just jealous!" Koopfaheem adjusted his glasses, "You haven't seen such prestige intelligence such as this! That is probably why you are only a Tattler! Still a sprout in the 25% stage of life!"

"Hey, at least I don't spend my days locking myself up for knowledge, this knowledge is pure experience!" Goombert glared at the Koopa, "Your bookwork is nothing compared to the real deal!"

"OH SHUT UP ALREADY!" Mario yelled, "CAN'T YOU SEE LINA IS IN DANGER?! " The two stopped arguing after Mario's outburst and continued to follow Aika. Eventually they were lead to the base of the volcano. The Chain Chomps stopped there and barked at the wall causing a door to form and open, they then scurried in. "Now's our chance…!" Mario whispered, "Let'sa go…!" The group quickly ran into the door as it shut. "Ouch!" They rolled across the floor for a bit but regained composure. Mario looked up at the path ahead of them. "Mama mia…" It was full of lava and the temperature was passed the roof, "This'll be a doozy…"

"Y-yeah…" Luigi stuttered as he stared at the lava, "Just take a few steps forward…and don't look down…alright…here we go…!" The group marched forward through the caves looking for their lost friend as well as Lucky. They were ambushed quite a few times by Embers but they posed no problem thanks to the badges Mario had purchased earlier on.

"That's weird…" Goombert said to himself.

"What'sa weird?" Mario looked at his Tanoomba companion.

"Well, for starters, don't you think we would have been attacked by the guard dogs by now?" Goombert replied as they were slowly crossing a ledge, "I mean, for an Island with high maintenance security and laws, wouldn't this prison be well…more heavily guarded?"

"Maybe we are just um…lucky!" Aika flew above him, "Maybe the puppies only stay outside!"

"That could be a possibility," Koopfaheem looked down at the lava sweating, "I deduce that perhaps this lava could be the main source of security so the Chomps don't really need to do anything in here. Lava is quite the gimmick to get around after all."

"But could the Lakitus just fly above the lava?" Goombert glided over a gap in the ground, "Or do their clouds just evaporate into a less dense substance? Those clouds are alive too…"

"Best not-a to think about it," Mario smiled nervously, "Those things disappear a lot quicker when a Lakitu isn't on them…so…maybe they're locked up real tight like we were when we were at the Thieves' Hideout back at The Scorched Sands."

"True," Goombert nodded, "But I guess Lina is able to hold her own, she's a strong willed girl…" He smiled to himself.

"Yeah," Luigi agreed, "Hey! I see-a stairs just down that hall!"

"Good eye, Luigi!" Mario high-fived his bro, "Let'sa go-" The door leading to the stairway closed shut, as well as the door behind the group, "Well, this is-a fine how do you do." Mario placed his hands on his hips looking down while tapping his foot, "Alright, who are we going to fight?" A bubbling sound could be heard followed by growling. "Oh no don't tell me…" _FWOOOOOSH!_ Suddenly, a gigantic fiery red Chain Chomp leapt out of the lava confronting the heroes; it was accompanied by quite a few Embers.

"MAMA MIA!" Luigi jumped in surprise. "IT'SA HUGE!"

"And it's making everything too hooooot…." Aika drooped on top of Luigi's hat, "It's making me diiizzy…" Luigi took off his hat and patted the Love Bubble reassuringly.

"Aw, don't worry, we'll take this thing down," Luigi looked up, "But…how…?"

"Hey, Goombert, didja tattle the monster yet?" Mario pulled out his hammer ready for battle.

"Yup," Goombert began, "Well this is a Flame Chomp, its attack power is considerably high as well as its defense, I recommend using those snowmen we stocked up on. The snowmen may melt, however, it could even out the playing field because you know…get rid of the things gimmick."

"I gotcha," Mario grinned while pulling out the item, "Okay, snowy do your trick!" The item released a ginormous snowman that immediately melted due to the extreme temperature, but the outcome was quite useful. It unconfined a burst of cool water that doused the Flame Chomp's helpers. It even cooled down the Flame Chomp itself. "Alright gang! Let's attack!" Everyone used their signature attacks against the Flame Chomp but those attacks barely made a dent in its HP. "Um…Goombert this isn't working!"

"Didn'tcha just hear what I said earlier?!" Goombert scowled, "The thing's defense is considerably high so of course our attacks wouldn't work-" Koopfaheem ran over to the Flame Chomp and used a Mr. Softener! "…Well that works too…" Goombert sighed.

"Now'sa our chance!" Mario leapt up and slammed the Flame Chomp with his hammer while Luigi ran in to support. Aika did her signature sky dive attack while Goombert smacked the Chomp around with his tail. Koopfaheem finished the job off with a shell attack. After the Flame Chomp's health was completely depleted it yelped and ran out of the volcano; the defeat caused the doors to open once more. "Let'sa go." The Red Plumber began to lead his friends down the stairs. They eventually made their way into a pretty narrow hallway, there was a huge door at the side but it refused to budge.

"There seems to be a crack in the door…" Goombert stared through it, "I don't really see anything passed it though, but, if you listen closely you can hear…motorized vehicles? That's new…anyways; maybe when we find Lina, we could ask her to blow up the door."

"Yeah," Mario nodded, "I guess we have-a no choice but to ignore that then. I honestly get bothered by-a ignoring unknown areas, because an adventure wouldn't feel complete without checking everything out-"

"We'll check it out later," Goombert interrupted, "Let's look for Lina."

"Okay, Okay sheesh," Mario sighed as he moved forward. "Heh, he's just like me when I worry about the Princess…this kid actually has a heart…haha." The Plumber thought to himself chuckling. Eventually the group made it to the 'basement' of the Volcano Prison.

"Seems a lot cooler down here than the floors prior," Goombert glanced at the huge room before them, there were plenty of doors spread out against the walls. "This must be where the prisoners are held."

"Hm…but where could Lina and Lucky be…?" Mario scratched his head, "Hey Lina if you're there shoot out a flare-"

"Mario is that you old boy?"

"Huh?" Mario ran to one of the cells and peaked in, "Kolorado? What-a are you doing here?" Luigi walked over to where Mario was.

"He probably was looking for treasure again," Luigi laughed, "I remember what you told me about him…he does stupid things for that stuff."

"Shush…" Mario covered Luigi's mouth, "ANYWAYS, what-a happened to you Kolorado?"

"A-hem…well, Mario, this is quite a long tale," Kolorado began, "After we said our farewells, I decided to head off to a place I deemed worthy of holding treasure. I heard rumors in town about this accursed place and how it holds a unique treasure."

"You mean the crystals?" Mario tilted a brow, "But…those-a are quite common here. How is that a treasure?"

"No, not the crystals exactly," The explorer continued, "This Island is named Fire Blossom Island for a reason, there is a crystal unlike any other crystal here, and it is shaped like a blossom that has fiery properties. It is most intriguing-" The cell door suddenly opened.

"Intriguing indeed," Koopfaheem walked over and joined the conversation. "What are these properties you speak of?"

"Hm…?" Kolorado looked at the other Koopa, "Mario, is this your friend?"

"Yeah," Mario introduced his Koopa partner, "This is Koopfaheem, we met up at the Clock Tower back at Maremelodia, he's quite the scientist."

"Hm! I see!" Kolorado held out his hand for a handshake, Koopfaheem shook his hand, "It's quite an honor to meet another scientist! The properties I speak of is that it act like a fire flower, however, it remains infinite!"

"Sounds-a like a good weapon!" Luigi's eyes sparkled, "We could really use something like-a that when we're on the ropes…"

"Hehe, look at Goomy and Li!" Aika was giggling, "Looks like they're kissing-"

"Aika, I think-a they're just hugging…" Mario shrugged, "But that's none of our business…oh! What about-a Lucky? We promised his Mama that we'd bring him back to her." The Plumber looked through the other cells which were filled with other Lakitus, he eventually found Lucky. "Hey-a Lucky! We are here to get'cha out of here!"

"It's about time!" Lucky flew out of his cell, "I'm just about sick-a of this place, it's crampin' my style, you dig?"

"…I dig, I guess." Mario shrugged, "Well, everyone now we only have the page to look for, we should retrace our steps back to that huge door with the crack in it."

"Crack in a door, you say?" Lina's eyes gleamed, "I'm your girl for that!" She was ecstatic, "Lead me to it, this place deserves to be damaged!"

"That's my girl…" Goombert smiled, Lina looked back at him and smiled back which caused the Tanoomba to get flustered. "U-Uh, so, shall we make our way back, this place's heat is making me feel weird."

"Yeah, let'sa go," Mario leapt to the stairway and signaled everyone to head up.

"I'll tag along with you guys," Lucky followed the group, "Y'all seem like a dope group, that's cool. I can use some action!"

"I don't like this guy," Goombert whispered, trying to avoid eye contact with the Lakitu.

"Me neither," Koopfaheem whispered back, "He seems…not smart. I cannot use another term for that would be rude…"

"Eh…maybe if we ignore his vocabulary, he might actually be of use." Goombert shrugged.

"Perhaps…" Koopfaheem had a worried look on his face. Everyone finally made it to the gigantic door.

"Ah! I smell treasure right behind this door!" Kolorado peeked through the crack, "Quickly! Blast this door open posthaste!"

"BE PATIENT AND MOVE ASIDE!" Lina yelled, Kolorado leapt away from the door. "Alright, time to…kabooooom!" Lina shattered the door open with a huge explosion.

"Heh…she's one dynamite gal…" Goombert stared with goo-goo eyes.

"Ooooooh," Luigi saw what was going on, "I see how it is. Heh heh heh…"

"S-shut up, Luigi," Goombert looked the other way.

"Hm," Mario looked at those two then at the door, "Is…is that a race track…? That's a lot of Chain Chomps and Embers…." The group made their way into the next room, greeted by a large crowd cheering for peculiar characters racing around on the track below. The karts seemed to be powered by the crystals that the Lakitus were mining for.

"ThEre aRe iNtrUders iN herE…"


	15. Chapter 5 Pt 3

**Chapter 5-Powered Up Corruption-A Fiery Race**

"ThEre aRe iNtrUders iN herE…"

"Huh?" Mario and his crew looked over, there was a Sorceress wearing robes that are the colors of a passionate fire, she was accompanied by two chain chomps. "Oh my…"

"I deduce that this chick is 100% hot-I mean…it seems we have located the one who plagues this Island," Koopfaheem saved himself, "She looks like a real fire blossom." Oh wait never mind.

"Mario, she's creeping me out," Luigi hid behind his brother, "I mean look at her dialogue, it's a mix of shaking capitalized and lowercased letters…"

"It'sa okay bro, maybe we could…negotiate with her for the page…!" Mario started tugging at his turtle neck, "Um, we do not mean to intrude ma'am. We are only here to-"

"No YoU wAnt mY tReaSuRe! YoU caN't haVe iT! FoOls MuSt sTaY aNd WoRk fOr mE FoReveR!" The Sorceress pointed at them, "Or RaCinG WoN'T Be FuN!"

"Racing…" Mario thought for a moment, a sudden light bulb of idea sparked over his head, "Ah! Luigi bro, you know what I'm thinking of?"

"…I never thought I'd see the day again." Luigi's eyes widened in excitement, "Is…is it time for that?"

"Yeah! It'sa time for some Mario Kart!" Mario clenched his fists smiling with fortitude, "Hey! We challenge you to a race!"

"A rAcE?" The Sorceress grinned at the statement, "I'll haVe YoU kNoW I'M THe BeSt!"

"Heh heh, we'll see about that…" Mario whispered under his breath, "Well this challenge wouldn't be any-a fun without a prize!" Mario looked around and saw the page hanging on the throne on the opposite side of the track. "If we-a win, we get that piece of paper over there on your throne!"

"AnD iF I wIiiiiiIiiin?" The Sorceress tilted her head.

"We…" He looked at his partners who had worried looks on their faces, "We…will work for you for the rest of our lives."

"DEalllL!" The Sorceress cackled, "I ShALl Get THe kaRtsss reAdy!" She and her Embers flew down onto the race track summoning two gigantic karts.

"Mama mia," Luigi looked down, "That'sa different."

"Mario! That was a retarded idea!" Goombert glared at Mario, "What if we lose?! We can't stay here forever, what about Mare-"

"Don't worry Goombert…and everyone else," Mario nodded reassuringly, "I have a plan, but we have to see how this race will play out first. I honestly don't trust this woman to play fair…"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Goombert looked down at the karts, "I mean…she could have rigged our kart…"

"Possibly, but we can still pull a win off, I'mma sure of it!" Mario jumped down to the track, "Let'sa go!" The rest followed and boarded the kart. Mario sat at the center and started the engine. "We need to work as a team to make it work…" The engine wasn't working… "Huh, this early in the game? Koopfaheem, could you do something about that? I know you picked up quite a few crystals on our way here…and make it-a snappy!" He saw the Sorceress drive off, "Look-a she's got a head start!"

"W-what? What made you thi-oh okay," Koopfaheem pulled out some crystals and attached them to the main engine, "I do believe your kart shall now be 120% functional, proceed to starting the engine." Mario pulled the lever causing the kart's engine to roar.

"Alrighty! Let'sa rock!" The Plumber pushed down on the gas pedal causing the kart to speed off, "I-a have a feeling she's going to attack us, Goombert, you have a read on her?"

"Hold on…" Goombert thought for a moment, "I actually have nothing for you right now…sorry! She doesn't seem as obvious as other enemies…! But my guess her weakness would be water just like every other monster in this volcano!"

"Got it," Mario focused his attention onto the dirt road, "This is actually-a pretty fun, hey Luigi, we should ask-a the Princess if we could have a racing tournament after this journey ends."

"Yeah!" Luigi smiled in agreement, "We haven't raced in well, forever!" That was a lie, Luigi raced back at Circuit Break Island not too long ago when he was on his journey to save Princess Éclair, he didn't find it enjoyable thanks to his screw up with the kart going in reverse…

"This is really energizing!" Lina had a strong gleam in her eye.

"T-this is scawy…" Aika was latching onto Goombert.

"This is the life!" Lucky was enjoying the race, "But Mario! Ya need ta get ahead of that witch!"

"Cool your cloud!" Mario accelerated the kart eventually catching up to the Sorceress making it a neck and neck race, "I-a got this!" He attempted to drive ahead.

"Oh No YooOu doN't!" The Sorceress launched some bursts of fire at the hero's kart, Goombert leapt behind in front and repelled the flames back.

"H-H-HOOOOT!" His tail lit on fire, making him panic. Lina gasped and ran over to him trying to help him out.

"Goomy!" Aika flew over and used her wings to put out the fire.

"A-ah…thanks Aika." He smiled at the Love Bubble.

"Teehee!" Aika giggled and went back to Luigi. "Are we going to win, Weegee?"

"Yeah, my Big Bro is a pro when it comes to racing!" Luigi smugly wiped his nose, "We have this victory in the bag!" Mario focused his eyes on the road, skillfully making the sharp turns and performing some pretty cool tricks as the kart leapt through the hill filled areas of the track.

"When the moon eats your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's amore," Mario began to sing, "When an eel lunges out…and takes a bite of your snout, that's amoooore~!" He managed to get quite a distance between him and the Sorceress. "Haha, looks like we have this!"

"Don't get cocky Mario!" Goombert looked behind seeing the Sorceress planning something, "She's thinking of something…!" Suddenly, a giant Flame Chomp leapt of the field.

"GeTtT TheM ChoMpY!" The Sorceress pointed at Mario and his Crew.

"See! I told you! Looks like we have company!" Goombert watched as the Chomp bounced toward their kart, "T-this is a clusterfluff!"

"We aren't going to play fair too then! Goombert use the snowman!" Mario tried his best to focus.

"Okay!" Goombert pulled out the item, summoning a giant snowman that blocked the Flame Chomp's way; obviously not stopping it dashed right through the snowman melting the poor thing. However, the Flame Chomp cooled off thanks to the downpour. "Yo, Koopfaheem you have any more Mr. Softeners?" Koofaheem shrugged. "You had ONE job…" He glared at the Flame Chomp that was slowing down because it wasn't heated up. "Ah well at least the thing is slowing down, but…I'm pretty sure there's a chance it'll heat up again; so we'll need to get rid of it still."

"Don't worry Goombert, I have this in the bag! Luigi…be a dear and throw me at the Chomp!" Lina jumped to the back of the Kart.

"W-Wait what?!" Luigi and Goombert stared at Lina in shock.

"You heard me! Throw me now!" Lina lit her fuse.

"O-okay…" Luigi walked over and picked up the Bomb-Omb, "3…2…1…HUP!" He tossed her at the Chomp.

"BOOM GOES THE CANDLESTICK YOU MANGY MUTT!" Lina burst into a large explosion causing the Chomp to be tossed out of the track.

"I gotcha dame, dun worry about it!" Lucky flew out and picked up Lina bringing her back to the kart. "There, the crew is back togetha!" He smiled.

"Thanks, Lucky," Lina smiled, "Now the field is evened out now! Ha! That's what you get for imprisoning a Bomb-Omb you witch!"

"We're almost there," Mario looked back at the other kart, the Sorceress was furious; she started to summon huge fireballs chucking them at the crew causing the kart to be launched to the side.

"HAHAHAhahAhahAhhhAHa!" The Sorceress passed by their kart with vigor.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Everyone fell off the kart.

"Mario! She's-a getting away…!" Luigi was panicking, "She's-a getting far away!"

"Don't worry Luigi!" Mario took out his book, "Okay Lucky we'll need you, you have Spinies right?"

"Sure, what kind of Lakitu would I be if I ain't got those?" Lucky pulled out a Spiny egg. "So what's the plan, chief?"

"You'll use those to obstruct the road, I'll be able to maneuver passed those so scatter them in front of that Sorceress' kart!" Mario found the page that stops time, "Okay, I can only stop time until the clock on this page stops ticking it'll go off when time restarts, so Lucky you'll need to step it up!" Mario closed his eyes and suddenly everything froze. "GO! GO! GO!" Lucky flew off and started to throw Spinies all over the road in front of the Sorceress' kart.

 _Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tock DING! DING! DING!_

"AAAAAAY!" Lucky flew back to the group, "I got the job done, Chief!" He crossed his arms smugly, "And I see you got the Kart back on its wheels, so let's do this thing!"

"Let'sa rock!" Mario leapt to the driver's seat and started the Kart up again; then they sped off catching up to the Sorceress who was struggling to get through the Spiny infestation.

"IdIoTs WhO pUt ThesE BuGs hErE?!" Her kart wheel burst from a one of the Spiny spikes, Mario drove by accelerating at a moderate pace.

"You don't mess with the Mario Gang!" Luigi called out to the Sorceress, "We don't play games!" Their kart made it passed the Finish Line. The Sorceress flew up to them with fire jets.

"FoOls! YoU tHoUgHT I'D lEt YoU Go?!" She summoned flames from her hands.

"Looks like-a we still need to fight!" Mario took out his hammer. "Goombert, are you able to tattle her now?"

"I actually got a read now!" Goombert explained, "Her defense is 0, however, she makes up for it with speed and high attack! Watch out for those fire balls she launches; they cause major damage; our badges will protect us from getting the burn status though so don't worry about that. We can actually deflect the flames, just use those timed hits!"

"Got it!" Mario smacked the flame orbs back at the Sorceress. She managed to summon more Chain Chomps and Embers, "Guys! Back me up!"

"We have your back Mario!" Goombert smacked a Chain Chomp with his tail, Lina ran in and exploded causing the Chain Chomp to fly and crash into another one.

"Yooooow!" Lucky was being chased by a Chain Chomp.

"Don't worry Lu! I got you!" Aika Sky Dived at the Chomp, but it didn't really have any affect. The Chomp growled and lunged at Aika, bearing its fangs in its wide open mouth. "EEEEEEK!"

"Oh no ya don't!" Lucky threw a Spiny in the Chain Chomps mouth. It yelped running away in pain. "You alright, dame?"

"Y-yeah…thankies!" Aika smiled.

"Well let's kick some Chain Chomp Chains!" Lucky pulled out more Spinies and started a Spiny storm. Aika distracted the Chain Chomps by flying around them.

"Luigi, you understand the plan we discussed?" Koopfaheem looked ahead at the Embers. Luigi nodded and pulled out his hammer while Koopfaheem withdrew in his shell. Luigi leapt on top of the shell and Koopfaheem sped forward for a shell attack, Luigi swung his hammer with all his might whacking all the Embers around him.

"YoU ThInK…YoU cAaaAn…StOp Me?!" The Sorceress panted, "thInK aGaiN!" She started to flash orange, summoning fire and lava from the volcano. Mario leapt back in shock.

"MAMA MIA!" The Plumber ran to his friends as they watched the Sorceress power up. She turned into a gigantic flame monster.

"ThIs…iS…MY TRUE FORM!" She rose her hand and slammed it down on the ground causing the track to crack open revealing lava below. The shattered ground separated Mario and his friend. Kolorado had been watching from the crowd this whole time, he was shocked at the shape of the monster.

"This…perhaps this is the Fire Blossom?" Kolorado frowned, "She is no treasure!" He crossed his arms and walked off to the exit of the volcano. "Maybe the crystals are more worth researching…" He grumbled.

"Mario, bro! What do we do now?!" Luigi called out from the other side. He was standing near Koopfaheem, Aika, and Lucky.

"I have no idea…!" Mario called back who was with Goombert and Lina, "Well good thing you're on this side Goombert, did you-a tattle the monster yet?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what she's weak to," Goombert shrugged, "I think we can exploit her gimmick since she's also made of lava, the water will turn her to rock and I think you, Luigi and Lina could tip the scales with certain attacks. I think that Aika, Koopfaheem, Lucky and I could play as distractions so she doesn't guard…so we'll go do that." Goombert glided over the cracks and started to distract the monster along with the others he mentioned.

"Luigi get your-a hammer ready," Mario pulled out his, then pulled out several snowmen items. A bunch of snowmen fell from the ceiling melting on the fire monster dousing the flames and turning her to rock. "Quickly, Luigi! Lina! You know the drill!" Mario leapt up and swung his hammer at the monster's head. Luigi whacked the monster while Lina blew up the monsters feet causing the whole monster to topple over and break open exploding into black smoke. As the smoke cleared, the Sorceress was back to her previous form.

"What…what happened…where am I…?" She looked around, "Oh no! My volcano! What have I done?!" She looked over at Mario and the crew, "Who are you and what are you doing here, this are sacred grounds!"

"We to stop you from telling us what to do!" Lucky crossed his arm staring at the Sorceress, "You witch! Always enforcing stooooopid rules on us!"

"Lucky, I-a have this, calm down," Mario stepped forward, "I see that the power of the Book of Creation's Page had gotten to you as-a well, you probably weren't yourself."

"A-ah…" The Sorceress looked down at her hands, "It does feel like I've been in a nightmare for quite some time…but, many apologies for the trouble I had caused you all. Allow me to make it up to you." She snapped her fingers, causing the Page to be transported to where they were through a magical orb of light. "You may have this page, it is the one that had caused my downfall…I feel as if you would be more responsible with it than I." She handed Mario the page, which gave Mario yet another sight of the next destination they must head to. Suddenly, the volcano started to grumble. "Oh dear…it seems our quarrel had caused a disturbance to my volcano, I shall bestow one more favor to you all." She snapped causing an orb of light to cover Mario and friends. "I shall be fine, I am the spirit of this volcano, the Island shall return to normal after time has passed after the eruption and I shall apologize to everyone that I had tormented…but for now, I shall plan my repairs within the volcano, farewell, heroes!" She snapped her fingers again, causing the group to teleport to the entrance of the volcano.

"Mama mia…" Mario felt dizzy, "Let'sa never do that again…"

"Agreed bro, agreed, that heat was-a killing me," Luigi started to fan himself with his hat. "I guess we're back now." He looked up at the volcano which was erupting causing ash to rain down. "Yuck…ash fall…"

"Well, we have to head off back to Mareme-oh yeah! Lucky, we have-a to bring you back to your mother!" Mario looked at the Lakitu.

"…" Lucky looked down, "But, I think I wanna go with you guys, you're fighting for a noble cause and I want in!"

"We promised your mother though, she'd be worried sick if her little bambino did not return home," Mario folded his arms closing his eyes, "Besides, you should tell her that you're going with us, at least go see her. She could say no…but mothers always understand her kids, believe-a me." Mario looked over at Luigi who smiled and nodded in agreement. The Lakitu sighed but nodded in acceptance, he floated to his home while the others waited outside.

"YOU HEADSTRONG BOY! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?" Lucky's mother yelled, "THAT'S TOO DANGEROUS! "

"But Ma! I fought a huge fire monsta! I'm capable of holdin' mah own! Why can'tcha just believe in me!?" Lucky yelled back, "Mario and his crew need me! Maremelodia needs me! I want to be a hero for once!" He folded his arms. His mother gasped at this statement, then looked down with tears strolling down her eyes.

"FINE…if…you want to go…then…JUST GO!" She clutched her fist, "But if you don't help Mario the right way, then don't bother coming back!"

"…Thanks Ma," Lucky made his way towards the door, "I'll come back a big strong Lakitu, I promise," He shut the door and regrouped with Mario and the gang.

"That's my little boy…" She watched as Lucky boarded the whale that was waiting for Mario and his friends so they could head back to Maremelodia.

"Well, Chief, looks like you got a new goon on board your adventure train," Lucky smirked, "I'm ready to cause mischief unda your orders."

"Alright," Mario nodded, "Just be sure to pull your weight like everyone-a else."

"I will."

"Anyways, we should rest up," Mario laid down yawning, "This was a really long trip…I could use a bit of shut eye." He saw that his crew had already known his plan as they were all resting on the whale as well.

 _Mario looked forward at the setting sun that glistened across the sea. He thought of the fate of Maremelodia, as well as the fate of its peoples and his new friends if they were unable to stop the evil that was plaguing the land. But most of all, he thought of Princess Peach, wondering where she was, what she was doing, and why she hasn't been able to contact him yet. He worried for her well-being…_

…

 _The Princess had fallen asleep soundly from boredom…until she heard her door creak open. She looked forward and saw Goomabda. "W…What are you doing here?"_

" _I am here to be of assistance." Goomabda walked forward shutting the door, "To tell the truth, my Master is a horrible man…his influence on this place is mostly dark magic…he trapped us Goombas here to do his bidding."_

" _How am I to believe you," Peach sat up staring at the Goomba, "How am I to be sure you aren't lying and you are extremely loyal to the one you serve?"_

" _Perhaps I can convince you," Goomabda began, "I shall show you one of this fortress' secrets, if you could just follow me…No one is out and about as of now and Korell had already fallen asleep." Peach was skeptical about this. "So…will you follow me? Or shall you remain clueless of what is going on?"_

" _Alright, I'll go," The Princess slipped out or her bed and followed the Goomba into the hallway._

" _We must be quiet…the guards are out during this hour…." Goomabda tiptoed down the hall with the Princess falling inaudibly behind. They stopped at the middle of a hall, there were to torches a distance from each other, "We are here…" Goomabda whispered something into the wall causing a door to appear, he opened it for the Princess, "Quickly now…" The Princess walked in swiftly, Goomabda closed the door gently, "Okay," He began, "We should be near the area quite soon." The Butler walked down the hall looking around. As they made their way down the hall, the Princess noticed a painting of a little boy with black hair and dark skin; he even wore green peasant clothes. The boy did not look happy in the painting…he had a smile but it gave off an eerie feeling of remorse._

" _Oh my…" The Princess paused looking at the painting, "Um…excuse me Goomabda, was it?" Goomabda looked back at the Princess._

" _Yes? How may I be of assistance, Princess?" He walked in front of the painting as well, "Oh, you must be wondering who this is, this boy used to live here, he was Korell's son, but…something tragic happened, I do not really know what, but one day the poor child disappeared. He was a nice boy, he'd treat us Goombas as if we were his family. This was also when Korell treated us nicely but alas….times have changed for the worse…and you can see that…"_

" _I…I see…that's sad…" The Princess frowned, "I'm sorry about that…"_

" _Ah, but it is alright," Goomabda smiled faintly, "Our job is to serve our Master still, but we only do that for the boy, I cannot betray him, but I can certainly hide a secret from Korell. Let us proceed now…" Goomabda continued to walk with the Princess following him. They eventually made it to the end of the hall that had a peculiar blue door, Goomabda opened it up revealing a child-like room. "There is a computer in here, I shall start it up…you will be able to contact your special one through it…feel free to observe the room while I reboot the computer." He started fiddling around with the wires._

" _Okay," Princess Peach looked around the room. The wallpaper was a sky blue, it had cartoony airplanes, trains, and boats as a design. There was a green carpet with racecars printed on it, as well as a train set that looks as if it wasn't touched in years. There was a bed at the side of the room with a white blanket that had green leaf and red apple prints on it, a purple dressed Princess with brown hair plush was sitting at the side of the bed a toy chest sat at the end beside the bed. A bookshelf teeming with books resided beside it. Out of curiosity, the Princess pulled out a book that looked interest to her and began to read it in her head._

' _Dear Journal…Today Mama and Papa got in a fight, I don't like when they fight…it's so scary. I remember the carefree days when we would go to the beach, or have picnics in the forest, or even when we'd go see some musicals. But today…journal…the only thing I can tell you and only you since you're my journal, is that their fight was different today. Mama spoke about the world or something like that which made Papa mad. As a result, Mama hurt Papa, so Papa took me and the Goombas to the forest. He said we can't be near Mama anymore…but…why Papa? Why Mama? Why must we be apart? I miss Mama…Papa hasn't been the same ever since, he's been locking himself up in his lab trying to do something about his eyes…I want to help Papa, but how…?'_

" _Oh my…" Princess Peach started to look through the rest of the journal trying to skim through the pages to see if there was anything else important hidden in its contents._

" _Princess, I have started the computer," Goomabda called out, "You may contact Mr. Mario now."_

" _Okay," Princess Peach placed the journal back on the shelf and walked over to the computer desk that had weird elf action figures scattered on top of it. "I can tell him anything right?"_

" _Correct." Goomabda nodded, "Please proceed, time is ticking Princess, my breakfast shift is soon and I do not want Korell to notice that I am absent." The Princess nodded and started to type everything she needed to tell Mario, after she finished, Goomabda sent the message. "Alright the message was successfully sent, I shall escort you back to your room now."_

" _Alright," Peach got up, "Thank you Mr. Goomabda, I really appreciate this."_

" _It is of no problem," The Butler smiled, "Let us go now." The two made their way out of the room and went their separate ways after Princess Peach returned to her room._


	16. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6-Mystery of Seinaru Mountain**

 _Oh hello…_

 _Have you been waiting for me the whole time? I'm sorry…_

 _No it's fine, my love, did anyone see you come here?_

 _Not a soul. I promised you I wouldn't get caught remember? Ehehe…_

 _You always keep your promises…you are such an impetuous lady you know that?_

 _Anything for my boy…you mean the world to me._

 _And you are the world to me, I love you._

 _And I love you too…let's be together…Forever…_

…

"Hey bro…wake up, we're back at Maremelodia," It was Luigi, "Bro…?" He looked over at his brother who was all groggy.

"Wha…" Mario blinked slowly, "That was weird…" He got up holding his head.

"What was weird, Mario?" Luigi tilted his head in curiosity.

"Oh just a dream…dreams are weird…" Mario shrugged, "But I guess it means nothing…I see-a we're back though."

"Aye…*yawn* we're back at Maremelodia…please dismount safely and have….a nice daaaay…." The whale 'parked' at the side of the dock.

"Thanks Mr. Tuna," Luigi smiled and leapt off; and the others followed.

"I'm a whale…*yawn*" The Whale drifted off.

"Alright we should probably head back to the castle now," Mario led his group forward, "The next page isn't going to save itself-" His Mailbox SP went off, "Huh? Now who could-" He looked at the message, "*gasp* It's the Princess! She's alright! Thank Grambi!" Luigi dashed over to Mario.

"Really?!" He tried to peek at the message, " What does it say bro, what does it say?!" Mario gently pushed Luigi aside.

"Well, ahem," Mario began, "Here is-a what is says…"

'Dear Mario, hi! How are you? I am actually doing quite fine despite being kidnapped. The servants of the one who captured me are actually pretty nice. But the weird thing is that my captor, Korell, allows me to roam around the fortress freely. I won't really think on why he does though…anyways, I have found out some interesting things while snooping around. Apparently, Korell had a son that had mysteriously disappeared long ago. Now that I think of it, do you think he'd want to bring his son back somehow? There are so many pieces I cannot find, but I'll try my best to sneak you all more information. I hope you are all doing well and keep working hard!

Peach'

"…Mario, perhaps this Korell man seeks out the Book of Creation," Koopfaheem interrupted, "Think of it, the Book of Creation creates, perhaps he just wants to bring his son back."

"I doubt it…"Goombert sighed, "He'd probably want it for more selfish reasons…there's gotta be something else to this, I can feel it."

"Well whatever it is," Mario shut his Mail Box SP, "I don't really care, we need to save the Princess…and this Land, what this Korell person is planning isn't right and he must be stopped. Maybe Lady Adira could shed some light on this situation." The Plumber marched forward leading his gang into the castle.

 _Sometime Later…Mario explained the E-mail he received from Peach to Adira._

"Ah, I see…so your special one is alright," Adira folded her arms, "Well, sorry to break it to you, but I do not know much of Korell…I only know of his greed and how he tried to overtake this island." She shrugged. "Many apologies if I am no help."

"It is fine, Lady," Mario sighed, "So, do you know where the next place is? I had a vision of a snow peaked mountain, there was quite a thick blizzard there too…"

"You speak of Seinaru Mountain," The Lady began to think; "It's quite a dangerous trek you will take on this time for…there are vengeful spirits residing there. A long time ago, there was a dark evil clan that used to torment the citizens of Maremelodia Town, however, my ancestors had banished them into the mountains, the clan had turned into spirits and were never heard from again…since you are heading up there I suggest watching out for them, they are very powerful with that dark magic of theirs. You can reach the mountain through the Illusion Forest, I believe there was a rumor that if you see a certain bird…that bird knows the way to the mountain."

"A bird? Okay, it'sa better than walking through the forest blindly like every other time we struggled through there," Mario shrugged, "And what about our new Page Power?" The Lady took a look at the Book of Creation.

"It seems you got Flame Burst (Not to be confused with a Pokémon move)" Lady Adira began, "You can summon a huge burst of fire that can damage all the enemies on the field, it's also used to melt ice just like a fire flower would do."

"Sounds pretty-a nifty to me," Mario smiled, "Well, pardon us now, we-a shall be taking our leave to our next destination after we stock up once again." He led his group out of the castle and into the bazaar.

"Hey bro, since we are heading to the snowy mountains," Luigi tugged Mario's sleeve, "Shouldn't we dress up correctly for-a this one? I really don't want to walk up there-a freezing you know…"

"Oh, okay Luigi, don't be-a such a big baby," Mario rolled his eyes. He was used to going to snowy areas without dressing up properly; he'd always go in his regular attire. "Hey Aika and Lina, could you go get us some coats?"

"…Sure thing Mario," Lina thought for a moment, "But we'll need everyone's sizes because I can't go wasting our coins now." Everyone gave their clothing sizes. "Okay, Aika, let's go shopping~!" The two girls ran off to the nearest clothing store.

"Alright, Goombert, Koopfaheem and Lucky you dudes are-a in charge of the item collecting," Mario directed, "Luigi and I shall browse the badge shop again."

"You got it, Chief," Lucky said as he led Goombert and Koopfaheem to the Item Merchant's tent.

"Okey dokey Luigi, we should-a-" Mario was cut off.

"MAAAAARIO!"

"Oh no…that can't be…" Mario looked up at the sky. "Aw, no…that…how…how did that kid follow me here?"

"What kid-oh." Luigi looked up too, "Well, it's kind of your fault Mario, you had the audacity to go stomping on-a that kid's playground."

"I told you-a, I fell into his playground by-a accident, sheesh!" Mario glared at his bro.

"MARIO! I FINALLY FOUND YOU!" A weird little koopa who was still in his eggshell dropped down in front of Mario. "YOWWWCH!...I mean- I finally found you! And I have grown stronger than you'll ever be!"

"…Who are you?" Mario smiled deviously.

"UGH YOU TROLL!" The Koopa put his hands on his hips, "I'm Jr. Troopa and after this fight, you'll remember my name!"

"We'll-a see about that," Mario held up his fists, "Okay, kid hit us with your best shot!" He pulled out his hammer and swung at Jr. Troopa, after that Jr. Troopa jumped on Mario causing a whole bunch of damage. "MAMA MIA! Ouch! My head…!" Mario clutched his head.

"Bro!" Luigi glared at Jr. Troopa, "You'll regret ever hurting my bro you stupid turtle!" The Green Hero leapt up and jumped on Jr. Troopa, in response Jr. tried to pull of the same thing he did to Mario on Luigi. However, Luigi saw that coming and he pulled out his hammer whacking the kid mid-attack. He then ran and whacked Jr. Troopa again this time it was more painful causing the koopa to be on the ropes.

"AIGH!" The kid yelped, he knew this wasn't good so he decided to release a special attack. He pulled out his magical wand and released a blast of psychic energy at Luigi which launched him away.

"Luigi!" Mario called out to his brother.

"I'mma okay bro!" Luigi reassured his bro while trying to get up.

"Haha! Look at that you have just witness full power baby!" Jr. Troopa was so busy gloating and laughing that Mario took the opportunity to leap up and jump on Jr. Troopa's head. From there, the kid had enough. "…Argh! And I was winning too!" He took a step back. "I'll…I'll be back!" The Koopa ran off.

"That child is a real-a nuisance…" Mario shook his head, "You alright bro?" Mario walked over to his brother and helped him up.

"I'm okay," Luigi sighed, "Maybe we should go eat to build up our strength again."

"Agreed," said Mario, "But first, we should go get the badges, then we'll invite everyone to eat, it's only fair." Luigi nodded in agreement. So, the Bros. set off the badge carpet and purchased some badges such as the Mega Smash, Power Rush, and Pretty Lucky. Afterwards, they regrouped with everyone else. "Hey everyone, maybe we should go get-a something to eat before we go," Mario suggested.

"Yeah, I could go for some grub," Lucky said with enthusiasm. Koopfaheem and Lina just nodded in agreement.

"My tummy needs fooood…!" Aika pouted hearing her stomach grumble.

"Well, if everyone wants to, why not?" Goombert shrugged, "I'm pretty much starving myself."

"Okay then, it'sa settled, let'sa go eat something before we-a go," Mario smiled. The group headed off to a nearby restaurant, rested up and ate as much as they could. After the fuel run, they went to the forest. "Hey Lina, what kind of coats did you and Aika get for us?" Lina pulled out some parkas; they looked like something the Ice Climbers would wear. "Oh." Mario's eyes widened, "Well, we'll be pretty-a warm in those. Let'sa put them on now before we go." The group equipped their new gear. "Alrighty, let'sa head into the forest, just keep an eye out for a mysterious bird alright? Maybe if we go through a different path, we could-a find it." Mario looked around the forest, it had been a few hours since they had first entered…"Gee…is it me or is it getting a bit cold…?" The Plumber's nose was becoming red.

"Bro look!" Luigi pointed at the trees, "They're grey here! Maybe we're close!"

"Hoo! Hoo!"

"Was that an owl…?" Goombert looked around and spotted a grey owl in the distance, "Maybe that is the bird Adira spoke of, Mario shall we follow it?"

"There's a 50% chance Goombert could be right, perhaps we should." Koopfaheem added, "Better than looking for more birds."

"Alright," Mario nodded. The owl began to fly off with Mario's crew following him, he flew in various directions, left, right, down, up, any direction that one could name, "Mama mia this is-a really getting confusing…that path does not make any sense…" Finally the owl flew off completely, but the group had made it to the base of Seinaru Mountain. "Looks like-a long way up…" Mario looked up.

"This is going-a to be one heck of a trip, isn't it bro…?" Luigi looked at his brother with a worried glance.

"Our adventure has been one heck of a trick Luigi," Goombert sighed, "It's just one extreme after another, you'd think we'd get used to that but it really isn't the case." He shook his head.

"We musn't give up though," Lina smiled reassuringly, "We've made it this far, no turning back now."

"Lina is right," Mario agreed, "We should start our climb now, at least before it gets dark because you know…"

"They'll creep up on us in the darkness…" Luigi bit his gloved fingernails staring up at the mountain, "They work in numbers…they'll get us for sure…making us wander in the darkness forever…"

"Oh, I was just talking about how we won't be able to see and we could fall off the mountain," Mario raised a brow, "No need to get all morbid there Luigi."

"Sorry bro." Luigi scratched his head. Everyone else just stared at him with a freaked out look on their face.

"It'sa fine," Mario smiled, "Well gang, let'sa start our climb, this may be a while…"

 _And so Mario and Co. began to climb up the mountain, occasionally running into snow monsters but they were able to handle them with their new Page's Power. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure watches their progress from a distant cliff…_


	17. Chapter 6 Pt 2

**Chapter 6-Mystery of Seinaru Mountain-Silenced Voices**

 _The mountain was getting considerably chilly…even with the warmth of the parkas embracing the heroes; the chills sent down their spines were unlike any other. A blizzard started to stir up and the sheer cold pelted the poor group's eyes making them water up. A mix of regret and howling could be heard in the air…the worst feeling of all though, was the feeling of being watched, their footprints began to disappear as they sauntered along the snowy road. The heroes took note of what Lady had told them earlier about the powerful dark spirits that had resided on Seinaru Mountain… although they were able to take on all the snow monsters, they were not exactly sure how they would fight the ghosts; for they were likely to behave differently than any Boo the Mario Bros. had faced before._

"M-Mario…" Luigi sounded tired, "H-How long until we reach…our destination…? I'mma…so…tired…"

"I…don't know bro…" Mario shook his head, "I don't know…but my nose-a will fall off if it keeps freezing up into this weird blue color…"

"Everyone…there is a 70% chance we will not make it if we keep up the progress we are with now…" Koopfaheem coughed, "This bitter cold is a cruel mistress isn't she…?"

"Aish…" Lucky tightened his goggles, "It's even gettin' through my ol' goggles! This just isn't cold…it's stupid cold!"

"It's too cooooold…" Aika whined.

"Yeah…" Lina nodded, "I hate this weather…it's even preventing me from lighting my fuse…"

"How about…everyone just stop complaining?!" Goombert seemed ticked off, "If you keep talking about it, it's only going to keep getting colder so just shut up!" Everyone went silent and continued to trek up the mountain.

"M-Mario…" Luigi tried to call again, "Do…do you think a fire flower would work right now?" Mario shrugged, but pulled out a flower anyways. He tried to spark it, but the cold wind blew the flames away. "…Darn it…" Luigi sighed in contempt. A faint sound could be heard in the distance…

" _Hoo…Hoo…"_

"…" Goombert's ears twitched, "…Hm?"

"What is it Goombert," Lina looked over at the Tanoomba.

"I…I can hear that owl again…" Goombert looked back at Lina, "Maybe…maybe he could lead us through this mountain, I could be wrong, but it's our best bet…I'd rather not wander lost forever."

"Hm…but where could it possibly be…?" Lina glanced around, "I don't see him anywhere."

"It'sa too dark to see," Mario sighed, "But, that owl is a tad darker than the snow and a bit brighter than the back-aground, so it'sa possible for him to stick out just a little bit."

" _Hoo…Hoo…Hoo…"_

"…There he goes again…!" Goombert's ears perked up, he then ran off to follow the sound.

"G-Goombert wait…!" Lina ran off to follow him.

"Mama mia…! We can't split up in this area, it'sa too dangerous!" Mario ran after the two, sprinting as fast as he could. The rest of the party just looked at each other blinking in confusion; they all shrugged and followed the three.

"I can hear him…" Goombert glimpsed around, "…There he is!" The Tanoomba looked up at the owl that was perched on the arm of a mysterious figure. The figure flew down to where Goombert was standing, he was revealed to be a pale blue blonde ghost wearing a white polo that had 1C3042 suspenders that held up his khakis. He fixed his glasses to see the rest of the group had followed Goombert.

"I see you have made it this far, my owl has done well," The ghost grinned, "I'm Jeremy, pleasure to meet you all." He bowed with a mischievous smile on his face. "You have come to find something important in the snowy mountain peaks, have you not?" Jeremy flew up and pointed up the mountain, "Then why don't you follow me? Ehehehe…" He flew off with his owl following him. "Come now, don't dilly dally, or you'll get lost in the snowstorm forever!"

"S-should we follow him, Mario?" Luigi looked at his brother for reassurance, "I…I d-don't trust ghosts…What if he's one…of them?" He shivered.

"We have-a no choice," Mario clenched his fists, "I honestly-a just want to get out of here." Mario dashed off to follow the ghost, everyone else followed. The gang did run into some trouble though, but while they fought off the snow monsters, Jeremy just watched the battles in entertainment, after the fight he just flew off again.

"He…he won't let us rest…will he?" Lina panted, "This dude is flying way too fast…"

"Oh he-a will let us rest…" Luigi said while trying to keep himself up, "Let us rest in our Game Over graves…!"

"Luigi! Stop that…!" Goombert hissed, "You're not helping at all!" The Tanoomba seemed pretty uneasy, in fact, he was the most uneasy out of everyone on the team. Eventually, a small village could be seen in the distance…as well as the blizzard finally clearing up and just becoming a light powdery snow. Jeremy stopped at the entrance and looked back at Mario and the crew.

"Well, here we are at last," Jeremy laughed.

"Where are we?" Mario looked around at the abandoned town, "This town doesn't seem so live-oh, I see-a what's going on here, this is a literal ghost town isn't it?"

"You got that right," Jeremy folded his arms looking up smiling, "Welcome to Eterno Inverno Village, a happy spot for all the little ghouls who live on this tiny mountain." He floated down to the group's level, "But enough about this town, you've heard of the dragon who lives on this mountain right?"

"D-dragon?" Luigi stuttered, "L-Lady Adira never told us about a dragon."

"Hm, well that's odd," Jeremy shrugged, "This Mountain is famous for its beast of burden, ehehehe! Let me cut to the chase though," Jeremy's owl landed on his shoulder, "I know you are looking for a Page that belongs to its rightful book, wellllll, a certain someone here has that page~" He opened up his clenched fist revealing the page of the book sealed up in a blue orb, Mario tried to grab it but Jeremy made it so it was out of reach. "Uh uh uh," Jeremy waggled his finger, "Getting it won't be so easy for you, my friend. You see, I'll give you this page, but only under a certain…condition."

"Let me guess, you want us to go beat up the dragon," Goombert rolled his eyes.

"Correct-a mondo!" Jeremy smiled deviously, closing his hand up making the page disappear, "You'll have to climb up that mountain now-" A huge roar could be heard, "Oh no-Everyone go hide!" He pointed at a nearby cabin. Mario and his crew ran into the house without Jeremy following them. They quickly shut the door and peeked outside seeing Jeremy being confronted by a huge shadow that forced his owl to fly away. The shadow opened up its huge mouth revealing a dozen sharp teeth over Jeremy and closed shut swallowing the poor ghost whole.

"Looks like the jerk got eaten…" Lucky gritted his teeth, "That was both painful and disgusting ta watch…" Aika hid under Luigi's hood in fear while Goombert hyperventilated heavily. Koopfaheem just stared out the window with a confused gaze.

"Mario, he could have been the only one who could have lead us up higher to the peak of the mountain," Lina had a worried look on her face, "How are we going to do that now?"

"Well-a the owl flew off during that…" Mario thought for a moment, "Maybe we could…"

"Pardon me…"

"Hm?" Mario looked over, a slightly dark blue ghost girl with light purple hair floated into the room, "Oh, hello, sorry for intruding! Heh heh…."

"Oh it's okay, most visitors hide in random houses anyways," She shrugged, "But no one really like visits this mountain thanks to that darn dragon…oh! My name is Rosa by the way, and it's like nice to meet you all!" She held out her hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you Rosa," Mario shook her hand, "I'mma Mario, and…" He pointed to everyone in order, "This is my brother Luigi…and that's Goombert, Lina, Aika, Koopfaheem, and Lucky."

"Lovely group of cohorts you have there," Rosa smiled, looking out the window, "Seems that dragon is doing his rounds again; it isn't safe to go out just yet. Would you all like a spot of tea until the dragon like leaves?"

"Mario…don't you think we should take on the dragon while he's still here?" Lucky nudged the Plumber, "He's doesn't seem that tough!"

"Lucky, I think everyone is in no condition to-a fight right now, including you," Mario said with concern, then looked to Rosa, "Yes, some tea would be fine, thank you Miss."

"Alright then~" Rosa smiled, "Just follow me to the kitchen," She passed through the door and opened it for Mario and his gang; they then followed her down the hall. There was a door open that caught Mario's eye. He took a peek in, the room revealed a comfortable bedroom; there was a slightly dark blue ghost girl with dark purple hair resting on the bed. She was mumbling gibberish and she didn't look too well. Rosa flew over to Mario while the rest of his gang advanced to the kitchen. "That's my little sister Lily," Rosa sighed, "Lately, she's been having a weird sickness, she like, always feels nauseous in the morning and she like never gets up from bed…her husband Dylan (this is his house by the way) actually went up to the mountain not too long ago, to fight the dragon or something like that, because at the top of the mountain there's a tree that has sap that has special properties that heals us ghosts. I feel as if the worse happened to the poor guy, it's a shame really…he was so kind to my sister. Those two were so deeply rooted in love, like the love you'd probably find in fairy tales or something like that mushy junk." She shrugged, "Now Dylan, his eyes never drifted, the man only ever loved Lily, wholeheartedly and deeply. Although he like never speaks…Lily truly understood him unlike anyone who lives in this village including me. They lived life and always found happiness and were always honest to each other even if times were like…bad." She sighed, "Now that he's gone…my sister still remains sick barely clinging to her afterlife…" Rosa had tears rolling down her eyes, "I could never find my way to leave her behind because if I went up the mountain, my sister might go into her after afterlife…" She sighed.

"Oh my…" Mario held his hand over his mouth; he was feeling pretty sympathetic…to the point where tears almost began to roll down his eyes too. He knew he just had to do something, "Rosa, when we climb up that mountain, we'll go get the sap for your sister, we promise you. You just stay here and watch over the poor girl alright?"

"T-Thanks Mario," Rosa smiled, "I will. Let's leave her be for now, she needs to rest." Rosa slowly shut the door to her sister's room and led Mario to the kitchen where everyone else was waiting. They seemed to be chatting up a storm so Mario decided to join along and converse as well while Rosa made some tea.

"So what's the plan Chief?" Lucky looked over at Mario, "How are we going to handle this dragon thing? I'm ready to kick some tail already!"

"There's a 80% chance this dragon is an ice dragon-" Koopfaheem was cut off by Goombert.

"It IS an Ice Dragon, smart one," Goombert looked the other way, "I…I've done some research before we left actually, but I never actually thought the dragon would be here…the dragon's weakness is obviously fire…but to tell the truth, I don't think I see myself helping you all out on this one…I'm sorry."

"Hm?" Mario looked at Goombert with a glance of confusion, "What do you mean, kid? Why can't you-a help us out?"

"U-Uh…" The Tanoomba stuttered, "Well…I…I'm kind of afraid of dragons…?" He gritted his teeth trying not to show his face to the others, he was pretty embarrassed.

"Um…well okay, you can sit out on this one then," Mario shrugged, "We understand. You've already tattled the beast so you've done your job."

"Can I stay back too bro?" Luigi looked at Mario with puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry Bro, but no." Mario patted Luigi's shoulder, "You still-a have a job to do, we-a need your fire power to take on the dragon."

"O-Okay…fine…" Luigi looked down at the table. Rosa placed cups in front of everyone; the beverage gave off a luxurious aroma.

"It's honey tea, it'll keep your bellies warm during your hike up," Rosa grinned, "So like, drink up." Everyone thanked her then started to sip their beverages, they all felt better and ready to climb once again.

"Aaaah, that'sa better," Mario sighed in content, "Thank you so much for the tea, Rosa! We'll-a be heading off now, Goombert is staying here though, he's afraid of dragons for some reason…but he'll defend you if the dragon comes back down here, right Goombert?"

"You…Y-You have my word for it." Goombert seemed skeptical, "I'll do some investigations around town while I'm at it, I could add more to Professor E. Gadd's ghost research…"

"Alrighty then," Mario stood up, "Let'sa go team, the dragon isn't going to slay itself!" He led the rest of the group out of the house and towards the exit of town. Goombert stayed behind watching them leave hoping they'd be able to get the job done without him.

 _Mario and Co. continued their journey up Seinaru Mountain, once again being harassed by snow monsters, perhaps these were the dark spirits Adira spoke about and not the ghost in Eterno Inverno Village…but not everything was what it seemed. As they climbed up the mountain, the fog was beginning to become thick and only a few centimeters of ground could be seen from the team's feet. Suddenly, the ground collapsed and the group took a long drop down, thank goodness they performed the snow ball effect. The snowball crashed into a wall that was in an icy cave…as the group got up and recalibrated themselves to their environment, they saw a strange figure incased in a crystal of ice…_


	18. Chapter 6 Pt 3

**Chapter 6-Mystery of Seinaru Mountain-The Truth**

 _In our previous episode…Mario and Co. continued their journey up Seinaru Mountain, once again being harassed by snow monsters, perhaps these were the dark spirits Adira spoke about and not the ghosts in Eterno Inverno Village…but not everything was what it seemed. As they climbed up the mountain, the fog was beginning to become thick and only a few centimeters of ground could be seen from the team's feet. Suddenly, the ground collapsed and the group took a long drop down, thank goodness they performed the snow ball effect. The snowball crashed into a wall that was in an icy cave…as the group got up and recalibrated themselves to their environment, they saw a strange figure incased in a crystal of ice…_

"M-Mario…!" Luigi called out to his unconscious brother, "Mario!" He put his hands on Mario's shoulders and shook him, "Bro! Wake up!" He snapped his fingers against Mario's ears finally waking him up.

"Wah…" Mario blinked, "We're alive…?" He sat up rubbing the snow out of his eyes, "Where are we…?" He took a glace around his surroundings.

"Looks like we're in some sort of cave," Koopfaheem rubbed his chin, "There's a 70% chance that fall rolled us pretty deep down…"

"Aw that's a load of bologna!" Lucky folded his arms, "This is just peachy! It's still freezing cold and we're stuck in some kind of abyss!"

"Calm down, man," Lina squinted look around.

"EEEK!" Aika screamed which caught everyone's attention, "L-Look in there! There's someone inside the ice…!" Mario and the rest took a look inside; there was a pale blue ghost boy with really dark magenta hair in brown formal clothing trapped in the ice. He had a horrified look on his face and he was reaching out as if he were trying to defend himself.

"M-Mario…! Do…do you think that's….?" Luigi started poking at the ice, "His face looks scary…"

"We only have one way to find out…!" Mario pulled out the book and flipped to the page that created fiery magic, "Okay, Mister, we'll get you out of there!" He closed his eyes and placed his hand on the page, summoning a large blast of fire that melted the ice releasing the ghost from his prison. He fell on the ground hyperventilating then looked around at his environment.

"…" He didn't pay attention to Mario and his group, the ghost just floated up and looked around. He then had an 'I know where to go now' look on his face and he flew off.

"…Rude much?" Lucky said with an attitude.

"Perhaps we should follow him," Koopfaheem deduced, "There's a 100% chance that this gentleman might be our ticket out of here."

"Yeah, he did seem to know where he was going," Lina agreed, "Let's go follow him!" She started to follow the ghost, with the others behind her. The icy caverns seemed to have many twists and turns, if Mario and his group were unable to keep up with the ghost he would have gotten away. There were plenty of Ice Swoopulas infesting the caverns, but Mario and his friends tried to avoid the bats for as long as they could. The gang even slid down an ice slide for a period of time…landing in a huge room of even more ice, it seemed like they were underwater.

"Mario…you don't think this water is…going to…" Luigi looked at the water behind the ice.

"There's a 100% chance that if this ice were to shatter…the water would pool down onto us…" Koopfaheem stood his ground, "And if it were too, not only would it freeze us…but it would burn quite a bit as well…" The ice started to crack a bit... "Uh oh…this maybe a good time for us to run…!" The ice started releasing small jet streams of chilled water, as that happened Mario and his friends began running and looking for the exit.

"Everything looks the same!" Lina looked around in panic, "If there wasn't water here I'd blast this darn ice and make a path!"

"No!" Koopfaheem interrupted, "If you were to do that there is a 95% chance that the cave would collapse on us making the situation far worse than the water freezing us!"

"Where's that ghost man anyways?" Aika searched around for him, "He just went bye-bye!"

"All ghosts go bye-bye, Aika!" Lucky folded his arms, "It's what them ghouls do, they can go through walls and become invisible, like that, poof!" The water started rolling in a lot faster and heavier than when it started… _crick…crack…fwooooooosh!..._ The shattered ice released a humongous waterfall that swallowed Mario and his crew.

"AIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Everything went dark after that...sometime later…

"Oogh…" Mario blinked, "Huh…?" He looked around, he and his friends were on an ice raft and they were dry. "We're alive…but who…?" He saw the ghost staring at him and his friends, his face remained stoic. "A-ah, you saved us? Thank you sir! You wouldn't be…?"

"Who you think I am is right; you can call me Dylan…" He floated down to Mario's level, "I guess…you all want to reach the dragon too…correct?" Mario nodded. "Alright…" Dylan smiled, "That's a good thing, I'll accompany you all and help you guys with my power since I have something to retrieve up there myself…"

"The tree sap-a right?" Mario replied; Dylan looked at Mario with shock, "Your wife's sister told me about you, did the dragon do something to you?" Dylan looked the other way, in embarrassment, his eyes signaled that he'd rather not say. "Oh! Sorry about that! Heh heh…" Mario sweated a little, "So where's the exit of this cave?"

"Why would you want to leave this cave…?" Dylan tilted his head, "The dragon lives here…" Mario's eyes widened.

"So-a wait, this confusing place is the dragon's hideout?" Mario folded his arms looking around at the rolling scenery.

"Yeah…" The ghost replied, "It may be a maze in here…but the dragon was not the one who created it, he wasn't always living in the mountains until he was placed here…" He looked down, "It was a conjurer's work, they're the ones who trapped…us up here…we didn't do anything wrong though…we just inhabited the island…" Mario gave Dylan a confused look, "It was a long time ago...I can't really recall what happened…they just left us up here…to you know…my wife Lily and I were actually the last ones to pass away…it's kind of sad we couldn't have kids when we were alive since we died in our early adult years…we couldn't live like a normal family…" He shrugged sighing, "But, she and I are still happy to have each other even in the afterlife…and that's what counts!" He smiled to himself. Mario chuckled, he felt the same way with Peach, just seeing her made Mario's life feel complete, he couldn't wait to rescue her and see her smiling face again.

"Ow…" Luigi woke up and saw Mario, "Mario! Bro! You're alright!" He ran over and hugged his brother; Mario patted his back hugging him too.

"I'm glad you're okay too Luigi!" Mario smiled; he saw that everyone else had come to their senses too. They were a bit groggy though.

"We made it…?" Lina looked around, "Did Mr. Ghost save us?" She saw that Dylan was present, he nodded at her, "Why thank you sir," She smiled.

"I presume you are now 100% allied with us then?" Koopfaheem glared at Dylan.

"Yes…" Dylan nodded again, "I'm not one to betray…I promise."

"So, where-a are we heading-a now, bro?" Luigi looked at the path ahead. Mario shrugged…he didn't exactly know where the ice raft was heading.

"I think this ice river will end soon…" Dylan looked ahead as well, "Just have patience." Everyone remained silent for the rest of the ride the raft then halted to a stop in a gigantic room that had weirdly shaped ice stalactites on the ceiling. There seemed to be an entry way at the end of the room so the group started to head towards the door when suddenly one of the stalactites fell from the ceiling blocking the way, it got up and stared at Mario and the gang…this mini-boss was none other than Baron Von Brr! Well…another version of him anyways; a few Lil' Brrs fell from the ceiling as well to help out their boss.

"Looks like another hassle!" Mario pulled out his hammer, "Well, at least we have someone who functions like Goombert, Koopfaheem what's your read?"

"Uh…" Koopfaheem looked at Baron Von Brr, "Judging by how this boss is 100% made of ice, I deduce that explosives would be highly effective! But…not here, for our ice raft would shatter if Lina were to explode here, fire flowers could have worked too but everything is made of ice! However! Mario, Luigi, your hammers are likely to work at a 65% success rate if you are able to knock Baron Von Brr and his minions into the water!"

"Got it!" Mario looked at Luigi, "You ready to-a rock, bro?"

"Always!" Luigi pulled out his hammer and the two brothers rushed at Baron Von Brr.

"Friends," Koopfaheem withdrew into his shell for an attack, "Let us attack his cohorts, it'll decrease the Baron's chance of victory!" The koopa swerved forward knocking the Lil' Brrs into the water. Lina was only able to tackle a few pushing them into the water while Aika sky dived at them.

"Awwww yisss!" Lucky pulled out a bunch of spinies, "Let's rumbbble!" He started tossing the spinies at the Lil' Brrs launching them into the water. The Baron had noticed that his army was being pushed back so he slammed against the ground causing it to shake, making the Mario Bros. back away. More stalactites began to fall from the ceiling but they weren't Lil' Brrs, they were just sharp! Everyone (except Dylan) started to panic and scramble around.

"Everyone!" Dylan called out, "Gather around me…!" The group gathered around him, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath making everyone invisible so the spikes wouldn't stab them. "Do…not…bother…me…I must focus…" The ghost maintained his composure while everyone else began to think of what to do.

"Bro, if we don't stop the Baron now he might break the raft!" Luigi watched as the ice began to crack. "M-mama mia…"

"I'mma not sure, but if we try to hit him with our hammers we could miss causing the ice to crack even more…!" Mario replied with uncertainty, "We could get stabbed by ice shards…!"

"Mario, the ice is 70% closer to shattering think quickly now!" Koopfaheem was panicking.

"You're the nerd here!" Lucky looked at Koopfaheem, "I thought the smart ones always had brilliant ideas!"

"If Goombert were here, he'd probably have already figured this mess out…" Lina added in.

"Maweo," Aika tapped Mario's shoulder, "Maybe Dilly could scare the monster away?"

"…Ah! Good idea!" Mario snapped his fingers, "Because ghosts are renowned for their scaring skills, it may be risky because Dylan seems way too chill…but…we-a need to make risks to make progress!" He looked over to Dylan who seemed to be extremely focused on keeping everyone invisible, "Hey Dylan! We-a need you to scare the Baron good, alrighty?"

"What…?" Dylan looked up at Mario blinking, causing everyone to become visible again "I…I'm not that good at scaring…that's highly orthodox to think all ghosts can scare you know…" He scratched the back of his head, "But…I'll try…" While the rest of the group ran around dodging the stalactites, Dylan flew up in front of the Baron covering his face, "…." He began to growl a bit, waiting for a few moments. Suddenly, he uncovered his face revealing his yellow eyes flashing and bazillion sharp teeth were flooding his wide open mouth, he let out a menacing scream that could hurt or possibly destroy a person's ears. It surprised the Baron making him jump back slamming against the wall cracking himself a bit, the stun was so painful it made the Baron fall down into the water melting him up. Dylan took a deep breath making his face normal again, "…That…that wasn't really scary was it…that ice shard was just over reacting." Mario and his crew disagreed they all stared at Dylan with their faces all scrunched up. "Um, sorry if I scared you all, I guess." He shrugged.

"U-Uh, anyways," Mario shook his face, "Let'sa go now, the dragon is waiting for us," He leapt over the gap between the raft and the path to the entry way. The group made their way through the caves and made it to a stairway that was made of stone. "Finally! No more slipping on ice!" Mario took a step on the stairs while the rest followed, "These are quite a lot of stairs though, I wonder-a if something is going to-"

"Don't jinx it bro!" Luigi covered Mario's mouth.

"Sorry-" Mario pulled Luigi's hand off his mouth. Suddenly the sound of water could be heard and the ground below the stairwell began to flood. "Uh-oh! Come on, let'sa make like eggs and scramble!" The Plumber rushed up the stairs with everyone following him closely. They made it to the top and pushed a rock over the whole where the water was about to gush out of. "That…that was a close one…"

 _Grrrrr…_

"W-what was that?" Luigi hid behind his brother.

"That was the dragon," Dylan pointed at the large lizard creature ahead of them, "Looks like we meet again…BlizzardTail." Suddenly all the torches in the room let off a light blue light revealing the dragon that was various blues with ice for cheeks, he snarled cold smoke at the heroes.

"It seems you have returned…" Blizzard Tail raised a brow, "I thought I froze you solid and tossed you off the mountain…"

"A higher authority had decided our fates long ago and you know that," Dylan folded his arms, "Maybe fate decided to smile down on me and gave me a second chance at you!" Mario and his friends stood beside Dylan ready to fight. "I have company now, so Grambi help me, you shall fall! You'll regret ever eating my friends and loved ones! You'll regret stopping me from saving my wife!"

"Hmmmm…well this is a first…I haven't had actual fresh meat in quite a while," The dragon licked his chops, "Perhaps I'll toy with you all for a bit, I'll take the meat from your flesh and for dessert I'll gnaw on your bones!" The dragon roared, and released an icy wind from his mouth launching the heroes backwards.

"Goombert said-a that fire could be this dragon's weakness!" Mario tried to flip through the book but the wind kept closing it shut, "H-hey could you-a stop blowing that infernal wind!?"

"We'll-a go h-handle the dragon bro, try flipping through the book again while we do that!" Luigi pulled out his hammer and ran off with the others to distract the dragon. The dragon flew upwards and used his wings to create a gale infused hurricane that tossed everyone around, "Mama mia!" BlizzardTail then stomped onto the ground making a bunch of stalactites rain onto the poor heroes who were still struggling to get up, as they fell the ice pillars formed cages around everyone separating them from each, Mario looked around at everyone for a moment, panicking. "O-Oh no! If we stay-a suspended like this we'll be eaten for sure!" He then remembered Dylan's ability, "H-hey Dylan! Get over here, buddy!" Dylan looked over at Mario and nodded, "Could you turn me invisible for a bit while I set up the page?"

"I have your back Mario do not worry," The ghost focused his energy making Mario and the book invisible; the wind had no effect on them now.

"Alrighty…" Mario located the page with the Flame Burst Power, he closed his eyes and the book released a huge burst of fiery energy melting all the ice on the field and severely damaging BlizzardTail.

"YOU…!" The Dragon's gaze quickly snapped to Mario who was visible once again, "HOW DARE YOU USE FLAMES IN A SACRED PLACE?!" Blizzardtail flew up and used his tail as a whip smacking everyone into the wall in the process. "You are tough meat, my tasty morsels!...But let's see how you fare against…THIS!" He held them down and opened his mouth ready to release an icy wind that could end the heroes.

"Lina! I think this would be a good time to explode!" Koopfaheem called out, "It doesn't matter now! There's a 0% chance any ice would hit us!" Lina nodded and lit her fuse…ssssssss….KABOOM! The bomb-omb exploded destroying the ice shards on the dragon's tail making it yelp in pain as it withdrew away from the group.

"Now's our chance!" Mario pointed, "Let'sa get him!" He pulled out his hammer and gallantly led his warriors into battle. Lina ran at the dragon's feet and blew up causing the dragon to topple over, Luigi ran in and leapt on the dragon's belly stomping down considerable hard while Lucky spammed Spiny Eggs at the dragon's face. Koopfaheem smacked the dragon in the cheeks shattering them with a shell attack. Blizzardtail roared loudly in pain and shook his first four attackers off, he stood up but was smacked in the face by Aika's Skydive followed by Mario whacking the dragon in the snout with his hammer. "Dylan! You do the honors! It'sa time to redeem yourself!" The ghost nodded and flew at the dragon in high speeds; he clenched his fist then uppercutted the dragon in the jaw causing the beast to finally tumble over for good.

"I…Is…is it really possible…for me to expire…?" The dragon huffed, "But…I…never…" Tears ran down his eyes, "I'm sorry Albert…" He then fainted with his mouth wide open letting all the ghosts within him escape; they all smiled down at the heroes, then flew off back to the village. Jeremy was the last one to fly out, he looked at Mario.

"Well, it seems you have done it, my friends," He grinned, "Here is the page I promised! Safe and sound!" He opened up his hand releasing the page to Mario. As Mario grabbed the paper and placed it in the book, he did not see a vision this time…"Well I'll be seeing you on the flipside, I have a girl to visit back at the forest, and I'm never late to a date if you know what I mean," He flew off with the rest of the ghosts.

"That'sa odd," Mario raised a brow.

"What's odd bro?" Luigi looked at his brother.

"Well, for-a starters, I thought that dragon would turn into something innocent but he just…died didn't he? The poor thing said…the name Albert in his last seconds…" Mario gritted his teeth in remorse, "And there was no vision of the next place, maybe it'sa time we head to Korell's Fortress?"

"I recommend we check in with Lady Adira first, Mario," Koopfaheem suggested, "It is better if we do that than just waltz into the big bad's lair without knowledge of a possible weakpoint."

"I guess we have to," Mario sighed, "I'mma winded from the battle anyways, we could rest up and stock up back in Maremelodia Town anyways…" He looked over to Dylan, "Don't you have some tree sap to get? Where is-a that tree anyways?"

"Hm…" Dylan looked around and saw a crystalized tree in a cave behind Blizzardtail's corpse, "There it is," The ghost flew to the tree while the others followed. "But, the sap seems to not be flowing, what to do…"

"I have a solution," Mario took his hammer and whacked a small hole into the tree, a good amount of sap oozed out. Dylan pulled out a bottle from his pocket and collected some of the sap.

"Thank you Mario…" The ghost smiled, "I highly appreciate all the help you and your friends have provided for me…"

"It'sa what we videogame heroes do," Mario gave a thumbs up, "Let'sa head back to Eterno Inverno Village now and help out your wife." After that long fight, Mario and friends slowly made their way down the mountain back to the village with the help of Dylan who seemed to know his way through the mountain. They then made their way back to the cabin where Rosa and Goombert were waiting for them.

"It seems…you beat the dragon, huh?" Goombert asked Mario with a hint of melancholy in his voice.

"Yeah," Mario shrugged, "We-a took your advice with the weakness and it actually worked," The Plumber and his friends followed Dylan and Rosa into the cabin to watch if Lily was going to be alright. "By the way Goombert…do you know Albert?"

"H-hm?!" Goombert's eyes widened, "A-ah no, sorry…I don't know many humans out there…" He shrugged.

"Okay if you say so," Mario peeked inside the door where Dylan was giving the medicine to his wife, "Heh, those two…" Mario smiled, "They're awfully cute together aren't they? I usually never say that about couples…"

"Don't you say that about you and the Princess?" Luigi butted in.

"S-shut up Luigi," Mario frowned at his brother. He looked back at the couple and saw them discussing something, Rosa closed the door and look at everyone. They understood the two needed to talk alone.

"Dylan said he'd like go with you guys to help save Maremelodia," Rosa explained, "He said he wants the place to still be itself when…" Rosa yawned, "Well, I'm tired…I'll be heading home like right now…" Rosa flew off leaving the rest of the gang wondering what she meant by that. Mario decided to eavesdrop on the conversation; he slowly placed his ear on the door and listened while the others tried to do the same.

"So I guess you're leaving again, huh?" Lily looked at Dylan with a hint of sorrow in her eyes, "It's been too long…but…I understand," She smiled at her husband with approval.

"Thank you, Lily," Dylan smiled back at her, "I just want a good future for the both of us and for the twins too…"

"So they went and had babies afterall…" Mario whispered to everyone else, "Dylan said earlier that he and his wife weren't able to have kids when they were alive since they died considerably early…looks like everything worked out for the best, huh? Heh heh…"

"That's so adorable," Lina smiled whispering back, "I'm so happy for them…!" They went quiet again to listen for more of the conversation.

"I'll be waiting for your return, my love," Lily blushed, "Just…don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"Haha…I won't I promise you," Dylan blushed back, "I'll be sure to come back soon, please be okay while I'm gone, do not push yourself to hard alright, dear?"

"Teehee, I promise."

Silence was the only thing in the air now, but then the door finally opened. "Sorry to keep you waiting everyone, I had some loose ends to tie up…" Dylan slowly closed the door behind him, "Well, shall we venture on then? I'm ready when you are."

"Yeah!" Mario leapt up ecstatically, "Let'sa head back to Maremelodia, it'sa finally time for our last battle so everyone needs to be ready after Adira gives us the say so."

 _And so, Mario and Co. climbed down Seinaru Mountain, eager for what lies ahead of them. Finally, Mario would be able to reunite with the Princess and even save the land of Maremelodia in the process. He was glad this adventure was going to be wrapped up soon, for he knew that he and his crew had been feeling tired facing all the nonsense that had been tossed at them, but he feared about the tricks and dangers that Korell might have set up against the hero and his crew once they have arrived at the villain's fortress._

…

 _*yawn* "I wonder when Goomabda will help me out again?" Princess Peach sat on her bed staring at the TV, the door opened revealing the Goomba butler, "Speak of Jaydes…hello, Goomabda."_

" _Hello, Princess," The butler replied, "I shall be revealing yet another secret today…but it's in a dangerous area of the fortress…"_

" _It's fine really!" Peach said ecstatically, "I've been through more dangerous things than you can count, this won't be any problem!"_

" _Hohoho, if you say so," Goomabda smiled, "Alas, today we shall head off to my Master's office there's something there you need to see…" He opened the door for the Princess, she walked out with him following, he then led her down the halls stealthfully until they reached Korell's office. "Korell is not present at the moment, so quickly…make your way inside." Peach quickly walked in while Goomabda shut the door. He then made his way to the desk and opened up a drawer pulling out a journal, "You should read it…it'll reveal a lot more things that you want to know about this place…" The Princess went to look through the journal, browsing the entries._

' _Today was quite a spectacular day…the woman of my dreams actually felt the same way that I felt for her. We actually meet in secret every day without anyone in our families knowing, although I feel quite guilty having her to myself…for her parents had arranged a marriage for the poor girl. That did not stop My Lady though, she is quite a impetuous one…that Adira.'_

" _W-wait…" Princess Peach looked up at Goomabda, "A-Adira has been alive for…how long…?" The butler did not answer; his silence was a sign for Peach to keep reading._

' _I've been working on a magical book lately…I know our tribe forbids us to toy with the magic of creating life, but I have been curious on playing the role of Grambi…Adira met up with me again at the point where I was about to give up on the book, she looked at me...her eyes sparked up a fire in mine…she wanted me to keep going…so I did. I continued to toy around with magic until one day I managed to create a Toad from one of the pages, from here I concluded that my research with the magic of life a success!'_

" _Could…could that Toad be Warren?"_

' _Adira hatched up the craziest plan ever…she…she wanted to run away with me. As much as my passion burns for her, I am not sure if I could leave my brother and sister behind, they're the only family I have…but then again, leaving the tribe could mean that I would be able to look more into my life's work as well as Adira being free! We could spend a lot more time together just the two of us…perhaps running off together won't be such a bad plan after all…'_

" _Hm…" Peach flipped through and skipped a few pages to find more important parts since the rest were just talking about how Korell and Adira made a living after they left…_

' _I have written more pages within the Book of Creation; creating an island…filling it with life…with colors, with visions. All the ideas within my head went into the Book; it was as if I was writing the stories of many lives. Ha, it felt pretty great! Adira and I watched over the land, making sure it remained bountiful and in a time of peace.'_

 _Peach skipped a few more pages._

' _Our son Albert just turned 4 today, he's quite the shy one…he tends to spend time with the Goomba children, it is nice to see him have friends. Adira was quite confused though, of why Albert preferred to play with the Goombas instead of Toads. Perhaps she felt it was better that our son spent time with someone who is closer to our species; however, I feel that he can make friends with whoever he wants. Albert is quite the smart one too, he spends his time with his nose buried in books…haha, just like his father, I'm happy for him. He even reads to the Goombas, which is quite a nice thing of him to do. The boy is able to memorize quite a bit of texts on all the species that inhabit this world…he'd make a great researcher one day!'_

"That sounds…like someone awfully familiar…but, moving on," Peach began to skim through more eventually making it to the final page.

' _Adira has been acting peculiar lately…she speaks of making a perfect world or something along those boundaries…I fear she may taint the Book of Creation with such bizarre thoughts…I pray that she doesn't really mean what she says, I'd hate to see her become so corrupted with power…perhaps the book must be destroyed before she gets any…funny ideas.'_

" _W-what? So this whole time-" Princess Peach dropped the journal, "Korell was…"_

" _That is correct…" Goomabda nodded, "My Master was only looking out for the best, the best for others…you must understand, he means no harm, he's just trying to save his special one."_

"Then w-why won't he let me talk to Mario?!" Peach stuttered, "Let alone why did he capture me?"

"He felt that the only way to bring out the Plumber was through bait," The Butler explained, "You're the only one that your Mario has in mind, you're his drive, Korell knew about the bond that you and Mario shared for quite some time so he took advantage of that."

" _But that doesn't explain why he won't let me talk to Mario! I…I…Goomabda! You must take me back to Albert's room so I can contact-"_

" _I cannot allow that to happen," It was Korell who was walking into the room, "Goomabda, why did you let her know of this? I entrusted you to only let the Princess contact Mario once...she isn't allowed to know anything more than just being kidnapped," The Butler stood back in silence. "Peach, you've played your role; Mario should be heading here sometime soon for he has collected most of the pages at last. He does not need any more incentive…" The man snapped his fingers, "Goomabda, escort the Princess back to her room and be sure to lock her up tight!"_

"… _Of course, Master Korell…" The Butler began to push the Princess out of the room, "Many apologies Princess, but if you'll just go with me…"_

" _B-BUT-! Korell I can help you! Mario can help you!" Peach called out, "Why are you being so secretive when you could have just asked us yourself in the forest? We would have understood!"_

"…" _Korell looked down, "Adira's misbehavior is my fault, and I should be the one who puts her in her place…no one else." He shut his eyes, "It's a responsibility and responsibility demands sacrifice."_

" _That's crazy!" Peach was being pushed back, "You shouldn't fight alone! That's irresponsible taking losses like that!"_

" _Just…shut up." Korell's face remained stoic, "What are you to know about responsibility? Not defending your kingdom is irresponsible. Constantly being kidnapped by the same idiotic turtle over and over again is irresponsible. You are quite famous for that around this world and that is nothing to be proud about. " Those words stung, the Princess remained silent and allowed herself to be escorted back to her room._

"… _Many apologies Princess…my Master did not mean to say those rude things to you…" Goomabda shook his head in an apologetic way. The Princess just stood at the balcony staring at the endless void ahead of her. "I'll…be seeing you then." The Butler shut the door and locked it._

"… _Oh Mario, please…come soon…" Peach leaned against the rail looking down at the abyss below._


	19. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7-Into the Fortress**

 _It was finally time; Mario and his crew were prepared for the ordeal that was set before them. With the fully recovered Book of Creation in hand, the heroic Plumber was confident that he and his friends would fulfill the destiny of peace that was set for Maremelodia. Mario sent his friends off to prepare some gear and badges for their next journey for their survival would be crucial in the final battle. The hero then made his way to the castle to talk to Adira about Korell. Greeted by Warren, Mario was escorted to Lady Adira's office._

"My Lady, Mario has arrived," Warren left the room, shutting the door.

"Oh, hello, Mario," The Lady looked up from her desk with a serious face, "I assume you have recovered another page?"

"Yeah! This time, I had no vision…" Mario shrugged, "But does-a that mean-"

"It means what you're exactly thinking, boy," Adira smiled, "You're ready to go face the one who kidnapped your special one! Now I'll fill you in on the details of the final power the book will bestow upon you. It is the power to create; you can make various platforms, objects, living beings…anything! But those things only live for so long…they disappear with time. You will need that power to create a door to Korell's realm."

"Seems-a handy!" Mario grinned, "So, is there any other advice you-a have?"

"Well, you will need to know that since the enemy's base is in the Forest of Illusion, I got intel that Korell is a crafty one, you'll need to watch it with his illusions," The Lady pondered for a bit, "He can manipulate you and your friends so you'd all go against each other…but I am sure you all know each other quite well by now! Haha!"

"Heh, probably," The Plumber chuckled,"Well-a, thank you for the information, I'll head-a off to regroup with the others so we can go to the fortress."

"Aright," Adira nodded in understanding, "Good luck, Mario, Maremelodia's fate is within your hands now."

"We'll-a do our best not to let you down, Adira," Mario headed for the door, "We'll make the evil go away," He closed the door.

"Soon you'll be out Korell…and there'll be no one to stop me…eheheheheh…"

Mario ran through the castle halls and through the exit, meeting up with Luigi at the entrance to town. "Hey-a Bro! Didja get the badges we-a need?"

"Yeah!" Luigi sounded reluctant, "It cost an arm and a leg, but here's what-a I got…." The Bro showed a paper bag filled with badges which were revealed to be: Dodge Master, Lucky Day, Power Plus, and Spike Shield."

"Seems like a good-a set of badges," Mario patted his bros' back, "Oh! There are the others!" The rest of Mario's team caught up and they were all ready to go.

"Lina and I managed to snag a few good items," Goombert smiled, "We got plenty of ultra shrooms and jammin' jellies…and some shooting stars too! Good thing we had enough for those…"

"That'sa good!" Mario leapt up, "Well, now that we are-a ready, we should-a head off to the fortress! I-a tell you all now…it'sa gonna be dangerous and it'sa gonna test our trust in each other, we-a need to work together in order to reach Korell, alright?"

"I-a got your back, bro!" Luigi held out his hand to do that all for one, one for all friendship hand jive, Mario placed his hand on Luigi's.

"Thanks!" Mario smiled.

"I'll do my best to get information about enemies as conveniently as possible!" Goombert walked up to the bros.

"You can count on me to be the explosives of the group! I'll destroy anything on your say!" Lina went next to Goombert.

"Aika help too! Aika help too! Aika sing!" Aika placed her foot on the bros.' hand.

"I shall give 100% cooperation with my shell attack and assess our surroundings quickly," Koopfaheem placed his hand on Aika's foot.

"I'll bring the hurt to all the baddies that dare to get in our way with a spiny storm!" Lucky placed his hand over Koopfaheem's, "I'm ready to rack up some trouble!"

"Uh…I'll do my best to get you guys out of a pinch," Dylan placed his hand over Lucky's, "I'll try to scare some enemies away too…if I have to…"

"Alrighty then!" Mario smiled, "We can do this! That's because…"

"We're a team!" Everyone raised their hands to the air.

"Let'sa go!" Mario pointed to the town's exit; then ran towards it leading everyone else into the Illusion Forest. "Alright, so we just need to take the same route we took at the beginning of our journey," The Plumber looked around recalling the previous directions that he, Luigi and Goombert had turned to in order to find the first page. After a few moments of getting lost and stumbling around, the team finally made it to the area where the first boss once resided. "Okey dokey, Adira said that I'll need to make a door in order to get to Korell's realm," Mario turned to the page of creation, "But she didn't say how to do it…"

"Maybe you could use your finger and draw a door on the page?" Goombert suggested.

"Could work," Mario closed his eyes and place a finger on the page drawing the shape of a door. Suddenly, the cliff wall started to shine with an upside down U shape, as the light started to fade, a door was revealed. "Before we head in, I should-a tell you all that we-a might not be able to get back to this world until we defeat Korell, is that alright with you guys?" Everyone remained silent but they nodded in mutual understanding to the consequence of going through that door. "Okay…let's head in…" Mario opened the door that displayed a never ending void of darkness. The whole team walked in slowly and blindly…

"Ow!" "Yo!" "Hey watch it…!" "AYYYY don't touch the cloud!" "There's a 90% chance that someone peeled the band-aid off my shell, please put it back." "Owie!" "Gee I'm sure lucky that no one can touch ghosts…"

The whole background came into vision…revealing a bizarre black, grey, and white version of the Illusion Forest. Everyone took a glance of their surroundings.

"There's 100% chance that this new area…" Koopfaheem scratched his chin, "Is possibly the anti-world of ours? This place is quite distorted."

"Does it mean that there'll be weird anti versions of all of us like in those weird movies about clones?!" Lucky looked at a tree.

"Maybe," Goombert shrugged, "I doubt it though, they don't exist here, this place feels…lifeless."

"Lifeless or not…" Dylan folded his arms looking to the ground, "We still need to be careful…"

"Dylan is right," Mario took a step forward, "Adira did mention the Korell is a crafty guy! He could turn us against each other at any moment, so we-a got to proceed with-a caution. So, let's go!" He started moving forward with the others following. Not a single sound but the wind blowing by and crunching leaves could be heard, not a single enemy in sight raised an extremely high suspicion. Everyone kept their eyes on each other with the fear that one of them could have become 'fake'. Suddenly the ground started to crumble…shattering like glass separating everyone onto different platforms that floated far away from each other. "H-huh?!" Mario looked at his separated Team Members, realizing that everyone was on their own. "G-guys!" The Plumber took out the book and shut his eyes, placing his hand on the creation page trying to create platforms so he'd reach the others but the book ceased to work.

"Mario!" Goombert called out, "Maybe this dimension doesn't allow usage of the book!"

"B-but, don't we need it to defeat Korell?" Mario stuttered.

"Yeah, but we'll figure that plan out later when we all find a way to get back together, alright? Hey Aika, Lucky and Dylan! Can't you guys fly over to one of us?" Goombert looked to the trio.

"Somethin' won't let me fly over those gaps!" Lucky tried to go over the edge of the platform to get to Luigi's, "It's pulling me to a different place!"

"I'm afraid it's the same for me too…" Dylan tried to get to Mario, "I think this place wants me to follow the path it set for me and the same to all of you, we should probably follow them…they could get us all back together in the end."

"There's a 25% chance that the ghost is right…" Koopfaheem warned, "Who knows what the outcome would be for all of us individually?"

"We mustn't rely on our own understanding…"Dylan proceed onto his path, "This place is bizarre, but hey, I'm a ghost…I'm bizarre myself, haha…if you all want to stay here, be my guest…you have to take risks to make progress you know…" The ghost floated off.

"I-a guess he's-a right…" Mario shrugged, "I-a guess we have to split for now-"

"But Mario that-a dude got himself frozen taking a risk!" Luigi reminded his brother, "He could still be-a cold in the head, making him all-a loopy!"

"Luigi, he's a ghost," Goombert rolled his eyes, "They don't feel anything-well except love apparently, since him and Lily seem to be actual soul mates now haha I made a funny…anyways, I'm bailing from this spot, I'll take a risk too. Meet you all at the end." The Tanoomba walked off down to his path. The other partners went their separate ways leaving just Mario and Luigi.

"Are you-a s-sure this a good idea, Mario?" Luigi stared at his bro with an uneasy glance.

"It's the only choice we have, Luigi," Mario looked down to his path, "Listen, we can pull through this, you can make it Luigi if you put your mind to it be the super Luigi you were when you rescued Princess Éclair." He looked up to smile at Luigi.

"You actually listened to-a my stories…?" Luigi looked to his brother.

"Of-a course I did," Mario nodded, "And you were really-a brave to go on an adventure like that on your own, it'sa time to do that again, okay?"

"Okay, bro!" Luigi smiled at his brother then turned to the path, "I-a won't let you down bro!" The green brother ran down his path.

"Hehe…that's my bro…!" Mario smiled.

 _The Plumber turned to his path staring at the darkness ahead of him, determined he stepped forward. Starting with a slow walk but then slowly proceeding into a run, he looked ahead wondering the fate of the Princess…wondering how he would be able to reunite with everyone…wondering how he would defeat the man who started this entire ordeal…_


	20. Chapter 7 Pt 2

**Chapter 7-Into the Fortress-Falling Back**

 _Mario and his crew had been separated by a sudden deviation of the new dimension they had just entered into…they all walked the severed paths alone wandering into the darkness before them. Goombert looked ahead realizing that he had wandered into an eerie forest…an obnoxious growling sound could be heard in the background._

"Huh, well what a surprise," Goombert took a gander at his surroundings, "This looks a lot like Illusion Fore-" Suddenly a large shadowy creature pounced from the darkness causing Goombert to leap back in shock. "Woah! Watch where you are pouncing!" The Tanoomba glared at the monster before him which appeared to be a shadowed form of Gooroth, the first boss that was taken down at the beginning of the adventure. "For Pete's sake-is this what we're going to have to do then? Geez…alright, don't think I forgot your weakness! I can still take you on even without Mario and Luigi on my side!" He smirked, as the Boss snarled at him repulsively. Goombert leapt up and head bonked the enemy…

"Oh, where could I possibly be…?" Lina looked around aimlessly, "This place is unusually hot like the Scorched Sands…" She frowned, as she continued to peek around the area, something emerged from the ground then burrowed back under… "Hm…? What could that be?" She saw the bulge in the ground, "Aw no! That couldn't be…!" Lina lit her fuse and ran directly at the pile of dirt exploding. The explosion caused the monster that was chasing her to emerge from the ground, revealing to be the ginormous Monty Mole that attacked the Bomb-Omb Junction. "I should have known!" Lina lit her fuse once more and charged at the Boss, "Boom goes the candlestick…!"

The path began to get foggier and foggier as Aika floated down to her destiny. She took a gander around; her surroundings seemed to be quite familiar. In fact, it started to feel as if she had returned back home to Starkissed Valley. An unnerving vibe could be felt in the unknown, with that Aika felt a slight uneasiness in her body. "Hello?" She glanced around to see if anyone else was around. Suddenly, a cloudy hand burst out of the ground pulling causing Aika to quickly bolt back. She heard a sudden cackle sound as the enemy revealed themselves to the Love Bubble. "U-uh oh…."

Koopfaheem yawned as he made his way down a dark corridor; not even fazed at his current situation. "It's just one thing after another," The koopa sighed, "According to my calculations, there is a 80% chance that I'll be encountering something soon…it just seems like that part of the story where there'd be this random boss rush before fighting the final boss. But that's just me." He suddenly heard a strange clunking sound emanating from the darkness. "Right on time…heh…"

"Oh great, not this garbage dump again," Lucky frowned at the path before him, "It's this Grambi-darned race course again," He looked behind himself; then he looked forward, "Eh, it's no problemo though, I can fly out of here-"The whole room began to shake, but luckily the Lakitu did not feel it; although he had to avoid the rocks that were falling from the ceiling. "What in the world is going on?!" The ground shattered and there was nothing but dark lava below, a shadowy fire monster emerged from the pool and began to attack Lucky. "This will be fun-" The Lakitu pulled out some spinies and threw them at the boss.

"…" Dylan sighed as he floated through an ice cavern, "I should have expected as much, separation from the others was bound to happen sooner or later…" He gazed at the ceiling; noticing there were a bunch of stalactites hanging up there, "I would say I should be careful…but then again, since when can solid things actually hurt me? Haha…" The ghost's ears began to twitch, "Uh-oh, I know this feeling from somewhere…" A gigantic roar echoed through the room causing the stalactites to get loose and fall from the ceiling, however, Dylan just let them fall right through him. The ghost looked forward and saw a shadow dragon glaring at him, "Looks like we meet again."

"Mama mia, how long do I have to-a wander through this place?" Mario spent his time wandering through a dark hallway. The complex maze system seemed to go on forever. The walls began to get smaller and smaller as the Mario progressed his way upwards, there were a few puzzles he had to solve such as pushing things into place or finding things that don't belong. He ran into a few shadow monsters, however, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The intersections in the halls made it almost impossible to keep track of where he was going, the constant turning made Mario feel as if he was infinitely going around in circles. "This is just-a great, just perfect," Mario sighed, "I have-a no idea where I am-a going and I still haven't-a rejoined with the-a others; I hope they're doing okay."

"Mario?" A familiar voice emerged from the end of the corridor.

"Huh?" Mario ran ahead, "I recognize that voice…Goombert! Buddy!" The plumber ran into his companion.

"Oh! Mario! Thank goodness I ran into somebody!" Goombert smiled, "I just came from a battle with a monster and after defeating them…I ended up in this weird place," He looked up at the Plumber, "Did you find anyone else?" The Tanoomba noticed no one else was around, "I guess not, maybe we'll run into them along the way?"

"Maybe-a so," Mario nodded in agreement, "What kind of fight didya even come from anyways?"

"Oooh, you know, a boss battle," Goombert shrugged his non-existent shoulders, "I had to fight Gooroth, it was kind of difficult to fight him alone but I managed. I suppose the others might be fighting bosses as well and they'll end up wandering these halls if they win."

"I know they'll win," Mario had a look of determination in his eyes, "They're our friends, we hope for the best for them."

"Yeah," Goombert began to walk forward, "But for now, we'll keep advancing forward. We have a mission to do remember?"

"Alrighty," Mario followed the Tanoomba, "I really wonder-a how Princess Peach is doing…" Goombert just remained silent. The two wandered their way through the dark corridors, fighting off enemies and solving puzzles a lot easier now that Mario had re-recruited one of the two geniuses in his party.

"It seems there's stairs leading downwards up ahead," Goombert peered down the hall, "Shall…shall we try going down them or look for another way?"

"Go down them," Mario walked ahead of the Tanoomba, "What's there-a to lose?" The duo eventually made it to the bottom of the well of stairs that lead directly into a door, "Let's head in," Mario opened up the door walking inside with Goombert following him. "Huh, a dead end...I guess we'll have to look for another way."

"…" Goombert just stared at Mario.

"Goombert? What's wrong?" Mario gave Goombert a confused look. Goombert just smirked and began laughing, "Goombert-" Mario felt a sudden force smack him at the backside of his head knocking him out.

…

"Oogh…" Mario eventually came to sometime later, "W-what happened…?"

"Mario!"

"Huh?" Mario blinked and saw a green blur right in front of him.

"Mario! Bro!" It was Luigi, "You're-a finally up!" He hugged his older brother, "Where are we bro? I'm scared…!"

"Luigi!" Mario hugged his brother back, "I don't-a know where we are bro!" He let go of his brother and looked around, "Did…did you by chance run into Goombert?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I did-a in fact run into that Tanoomba," Luigi scratched his head, "He lead me through this place into a dead end…and then bam! I got knocked out!"

"That-a traitor!" Mario clutched his fists, "He did-a the same thing to me!" He frowned and patted his overalls, "M-mama mia…!"

"W-what happened bro?" Luigi stared at his brother.

"The book!" Mario panicked, "It'sa gone! I bet that traitor took it!" He looked around the room, "We'll-a have to find a way out of here fast and catch up to him, who knows what he's planning!"

"Yeah!" Luigi looked around for anything out of the ordinary, "Huh?" Luigi looked up at the ceiling, "Eeeeyaaaaah!"

"What is it bro-mother of Grambi-" Mario saw a gigantic disgusting white spider hanging from the ceiling, "Ech-" The spider let go of the ceiling and fell in front of the bros. "Maybe we'll have to fight this thing to get out of here!" Mario took out his hammer, "Let'sa go!" Luigi just cowered in fear; Mario smacked his back, "Luigi! I said… 'LET'SA GO!'"

"O-Okey-dokey!" Luigi got up too, holding out his hammer with his legs trembling in shock.

"Hisssss!" The spider started to spray webs at the bros.

"Yuck!" Mario took out a fire flower and snapped his fingers lighting the webs on fire, the spider flinched and retreated back to the ceiling. The bros. stared up at the ceiling to see if the spider would pounce. The monster swung down and grabbed Luigi.

"EEEEEEEEEEE! MARIO HELP!" Luigi tried struggling out of the spider's grip. The spider began spreading webs everywhere to block Mario off.

"Luigi!" Mario looked around, "Hm…!" He leapt onto the spider web and began chasing after the spider, "Haaaaa!" The plumber saw a weak spot on the spider's back, "Alrighty!" Mario snapped his fingers and launched a fireball at the spider causing it to wince in pain; letting Luigi go. "Luigi! Let'sa finish this!" Mario took out his hammer and slammed down on the spider's weak spot.

"Okay!" Luigi took out his hammer and helped out Mario, doubling the damage against the spider and slamming it to the ground finishing it off. The spider let out one last hiss and blew up into a bunch of webbing. "E-ew! This-a room will never pass the white-a glove test!" Luigi frowned.

"Huh, well what do ya know, look!" Mario pointed up at the ceiling, "The webs lead up to an exit! Let'sa head off there!" The two climbed up the web into a new room. "Huh…?" Mario looked around, "Ow! What is this?" He saw a bed frame above him, "A bed frame?" He crawled out from under the bed with Luigi following him, "This…this-a looks like a kid's room!" The bros observed their surroundings. The wallpaper was a sky blue, it had cartoony airplanes, trains, and boats as a design. There was a green carpet with racecars printed on it, as well as a train set that looks as if it wasn't touched in years. There was a bed at the side of the room with a white blanket that had green leaf and red apple prints on it, a purple dressed Princess with brown hair plush was sitting at the side of the bed a toy chest sat at the end beside the bed.

"There-a doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in this room, bro," Luigi shrugged, "What-a do we do now?"

"We-a keep going, I guess," Mario spotted a wooden door leading out of the room, "This…this is-a so weird though," He grabbed the handle and opened the door with his brother following him. The two made their way down the hall when a painting on the wall caught Luigi's eyes.

"H-huh?" Luigi stared at the painting, "Mario! Look!" He tugged at Mario's sleeve. Mario looked up at the picture awestruck, "T-that picture…the kid…he looks awfully familiar doesn't he?"

"Y-yeah…what in the world is going on here?" Mario shook his head, "We should keep going, bro." The bros. continued their way down the hall and made their way through plenty of doors. They found it awfully suspicious that no one was coming out to attack them; the halls were just enveloped in complete silence. They eventually made it to a huge hall, where they spotted figures in the distance. "Hey…aren't those the others? And…who's that…?"

"That looks like another you bro…!" Luigi whispered to his brother.

"So you weren't able to find your brother or Goombert at all?" Dylan looked over at the other Mario, "That's a shame…really, maybe we should go back and look for them?"

"No, we have-a job to do remember?" The Mario shook his head and persisted that they keep on moving forward.

"But Mario," Lina interrupted, "We…we all came here together! And we'll get out of here together too! Don't you care about your bro? And w-what about Goombert?" The bomb seemed flustered.

"Ye! Goomy and Weegee!" Aika chimed in.

"Yeah, why would we leave them behind, dude?" Lucky folded his arms, "I thought you cared about them!"

"This seems awfully out of character of you Mario," Dylan frowned, "I thought you were one of those heroes who cared about his friends."

"There's a 100% chance that you are hiding something Mister Mario," Koopfaheem glared at the plumber, "Spill the beans."

"I-a swear I'm not hiding-a anything," The Mario looked a bit out of it, "We might run into them along the way, who knows? I-a mean…I did-a run into you guys down there in the dungeon!"

"Eeeey…he does have a point," Lucky shrugged.

"But…" Lina looked to the ground, "My gut tells me something just isn't right…"

"Your gut is right, Lina!" The real Mario ran up and got in between his party and the fake Mario, "Who are you?!" The plumber pointed at his doppleganger. Everyone just stared at the two Marios awestruck.

"That'sa the real Mario," Luigi reassured the rest of the party, "Trust me! I know my bro!" Everyone took Luigi for his word.

"Thanks for believing my bro everyone!" Mario smiled, "Now then, let's see who this imposter is!"

"…" The fake Mario frowned, "I didn't want to do this but…" He took out a hammer and held out the book of creation, "If only you stayed down there….then we wouldn't be in such a mess now, wouldn't we?" Everyone took a step back.

"W-woah! Don't do anything hasty with that-a book!" Mario held up his hands trying to make a peace offering.

"You were the one being hasty with it," The fake Mario glared at the Plumber and his party, "All of you…all of you are blind of who the real enemy is."

"Then…what are you to say that you're not our enemy?" Dylan interrupted, "I mean, you did trap the real Mario down in a dungeon, not to mention Luigi. You tried playing the rest of us as fools with that disguise of yours."

"The ghost is right," Koopfaheem added in, "Who are you really?"

"…" The fake Mario just used a power in the book and charged at Mario and the rest of the party. He knew their exact movements and how to take each one down, "Don't think I haven't done my research on any of you, I know all of your weaknesses!" He lit Lina on fire causing her to blow up causing only damage to the bomb herself. He leapt on Aika knocking her down from the air and flipped Koopfaheem over with just one stomp. He reflected Lucky's spinies back at the Lakitu doubling the damage and used a Snowman freezing Dylan solid. It was just him against Luigi and the real Mario now.

"He's…he's-a really fast, isn't he bro?" Luigi looked over at his brother, "I-a mean…look how easily he took down the others."

"It doesn't mean he can't take us down…!" Mario clutched his fists, "We're here to save the world right? And-a Princess Peach too!" Luigi nodded. The Plumber charged at the fake Mario with his hammer, they battled it out evenly, Mario did his best to hold off the doppelganger but was getting slowly pushed back.

"Your hammers mean nothing to me!" The fake Mario smirked, "Looks like it's lights out for you plumber!" The fake plumber used a the power up spell and hit Mario back.

"M-mama mia!" Mario held his ground, "I won't-a give up!" He charged back and continued the battle of the hammers, he then noticed something hanging out from the fake Mario's hat, "Huh? What's that?" He looked over at Luigi and motioned something only Luigi could understand.

"Gotcha bro!" Luigi ran over and stomped on the fake Mario, knocking him out, "Oh-that was easy…." Mario shrugged and grabbed the fake Mario's hat, there was a leaf on the fraud's head.

"Is that-a disguise leaf…? Only tanoombas have those-oh I see!" Mario pulled the leaf off the enemy's head revealing them to be Goombert, "I should have known it'd be you, Goombert…I thought you were our buddy."

"…" Goombert looked up at Mario, "You…you wouldn't understand…" He turned away from the plumber, "Here take the stupid book…" The tanoomba limped off in a hurry.

"What'sa wrong with him bro?" Luigi picked the book and handed it to Mario.

"I have no idea…but we shouldn't worry about that now, our friends need us," Mario pointed at his damaged party, "Come on let's heal them…" Mario and Luigi went to go heal their party and they explained the whole situation to the group.

"Ah, I see…" Dylan nodded, "It's unfortunate that Goombert would do such a thing, he was nice I guess."

"Huh, to have a 100% betrayal…I expected better from him," Koopfaheem frowned, "He was a good rival to compete with, mentally of course."

"Yeah, it was entertainin' to see two nerds fight, haha," Lucky chuckled only resulting in Koopfaheem punching his arm, "Ow!"

"But…But…Goomy is our friend!" Aika had a look of sadness on her face.

"I don't-a really know about that Aika," Mario looked through the book to check if all the pages were intact, "Ah, thank goodness…"

"Lina…are-a you okay?" Luigi noticed the bomb was sad, "I know you liked-a Goombert…but he betrayed us…we…we'll have to keep going, okay? Don't-a be sad…"

"He wouldn't do that…" Lina looked to the ground, "I know he wouldn't…"

"You're-a just in denial right now…" Luigi folded his arms looking to the ground, "Look…I believed in the-a kid too, since the beginning of this whole adventure…he was-a helpful getting us-a through all of this. But…to think he would stab-a us in the back would be the last thing on the members of this party's mind, but…what'sa done is done, we'll have to move on without him, the world-a still needs us, Lina."

"…" Lina sighed and nodded. Mario lead the group in silence through the lighted up halls of the fortress they were in, they eventually made it to an office where a man was staring out the window.

"It seems you have made it all the way here," The man turned around but was looking into nothing, "I knew you'd make it here." He pointed at Mario, "I suppose you're looking for your special one are you not? Well, if you are, here's a deal." Mario looked at the man reluctantly, "If you give me that book there, I can release her and give her back to you."

"…" Mario looked back at his party they all were depending on him to make the decision. The plumber was the leader after all.

"Mario…he doesn't seem trustworthy," Luigi tugged at his brother's sleeve, "What if he-a doesn't give the Princess back and if we give him the book…he might-a do something terrible!"

"You're-a not wrong there bro…" Mario agreed with his brother, "Who are you anyways?! And why are you doing bad things to Maremelodia huh?"

"Hmm…your questions make me impatient…but since this may be the last time you'll see me…" The man sighed, "I am Korell, one of the two beings mentioned in the origins of Maremelodia. You know, the story of how this land was first founded and what not…I'm the original author of the book that you hold in your hands."

"W-what?" Mario looked at Korell in shock, "I thought…I thought Adira's ancestors wrote this…!"

"Well, maybe someone should have done more research, I have a bone to pick with that…woman…" Korell held out his hand, "Now then, will you go on with the deal I have offered?"

"…" Mario put the book away, "I don't think I can trust-a you! And neither could any of my friends!" Everyone took battle stances, preparing to attack Korell, "You need to be defeated in order save Maremelodia!"

"…" Korell shrugged, "So be it, I really didn't want to resort to violence." He pulled a sword out of the darkness, "Come then, let us battle! I do not intend to lose!" The group charged at him as he charged at them.


End file.
